News
Riverside County adopts “Lean” approach to transforming probation department
From CA Fwd - When data from a Riverside County jail study were released last year, the county’s probation department responded by changing the way it did business. The report, conducted by CA Fwd’s Justice System Change Initiative (J-SCI), showed nearly half of the daily jail population was not in custody for a new crime.
Chief Terri McDonald Discuss Importance of Juvenile Justice Realignment
Probation Chiefs Commemorate 10 Year Anniversary of Historic Reform
Watch Los Angeles County Chief Probation Officer Terri McDonald discuss the importance of Juvenile Justice Realignment and how it has helped make significant progress in California’s juvenile justice system.
Juvenile Justice Realignment began with the passage of Senate Bill 81 in 2007. This legislation shifted the responsibility for the majority of youth in the juvenile justice system from the state to county probation departments and away from the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) run by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Juvenile crime rates plummet amid new approaches to tackling youth crime
San Diego County
When San Diego County went looking for grant funds to help build a 300-bed jail for juveniles, officials argued that the 1950s-era Juvenile Hall on Meadowlark Lane was strained to the breaking point.
“There is literally no more room at the inn,” the county warned in a grant application in 1999 seeking $36 million in construction funds for what would become, in 2004, the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility.
And things were only going to get worse: At the time, the county estimated it would need 1,284 beds to house all its juvenile offenders by 2015.
Remember the real goals of state’s Proposition 57
By Chief Mary Butler
From the San Diego Union Tribune
In November, the Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) supported and co-signed Proposition 57: The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act. CPOC supported Proposition 57 because as leaders in the probation industry, we believe Proposition 57 lays out a framework for a strong foundation to build on and enhance a better system for public safety.
AB 1250 will hurt critical public safety reforms
By Chief Butler and Mark Bontrager
From Napa Valley Register
AB 1250, which is currently moving through the California Legislature, would have detrimental effects on critical public safety reforms in California.
Federal judge was warned not to release man who killed Sacramento Co. deputy
Reporter: Kevin Oliver
From KCRA News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
An assistant U.S. attorney warned a federal judge not to release
Thomas Littlecloud last summer, saying he had talked about
shooting police and he had rammed police cars before to get away.
Authorities said Littlecloud shot two California Highway Patrol officers and killed Sacramento County sheriff’s Deputy Robert French when they tried to serve a search warrant at a Ramada Inn last month.
