We need your help to reprioritize $100M+ annually toward community-based services for California’s justice-involved youth. Please consider submitting a support letter by using this letter template today!
Steps to submit a support letter:
Add your personal/org information to the support letter template. Submit your letter through the legislative portal. Email a copy of your letter to renee@cjcj.org and michael.lucien@asm.ca.gov.Background
CJCJ is co-sponsoring Assembly Bill 1007 (Jones-Sawyer), the Promoting Reinvestment and Oversight Measures for Individual Success and Empowerment (P.R.O.M.I.S.E.) Act. This bill will ensure the effective investment of Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) grant dollars.
For the past twenty years, California’s JJCPA grant has allocated approximately $100 milllion annually without oversight or accountability. This results in poor spending decisions. California gives the majority of JJCPA funds to staff probation departments, while most counties spending little to none on CBOs.
A recent state audit confirmed long-held concerns about poor JJCPA spending, decision-making, and reporting. AB 1007 addresses these systemic shortcomings. The legislation will also serve as a critical stimulus for the public health, education, and nonprofit sectors. This legislation will:
- Reinvest JJCPA dollars into communities by requiring counties to distribute at least 95 percent of allotted JJCPA funds to CBOs and/or public agencies that are non-law enforcement agencies.
- Ensure equal community representation in decision making by requiring counties’ Juvenile Justice Coordinating Councils to allocate 50 percent of seats for community members, given these bodies decide JJCPA funding.
- Strengthen county reporting and evaluation processes by the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) to include critical data on youth served and program effectiveness.
Co-sponsors:
- ACLU-California
- Alliance for Boys and Men of Color (ABMoC)
- Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC)
- Children’s Defense Fund-California (CDF-CA)
- Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ)
- MILPA Collective
- W. Haywood Burns Institute
- Urban Peace Institute
- Youth Justice Coalition — Los Angeles (YJC)
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