SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) Past President Chief John Keene and CPOC executive director Karen Pank were published in the July issue of the APPA Perspectives Magazine. 

Their article discussed how SB 678 has helped transform California’s Probation system. SB 678 created an incentive-based permanent state funding source to stem the flow of probationers to the state prison system. The reform has been heralded as a resounding success, helping save the state billions, reducing caseload sizes allowing probation to provide more individualized approaches to supervision and rehabilitation, and facilitated a culture shift to focus on behavior change and exiting probation supervision successfully – all while continuing to keep communities safe. 

The impacts of SB 678 helped lead to the outcomes we see today: reduction in the number of incarcerated individuals and correctional costs, better collaboration between probation departments, counties, and state agencies, and more rehabilitative programming available to address individual criminogenic needs. 

You can read the article here or see it in APPA’s Perspectives Magazine.