On Wednesday, September 12, 2012, the San Francisco Police Commission met to discuss a range of issues, including the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD)‘s faulty and problematic system of collecting arrest data. Recently highlighted by the Bay Citizen , San Francisco County is the only county of 58 in California that does not accurately report the arrests of Hispanic residents. CJCJ noted this data limitation in an April 2012 publication documenting a 40+ year pattern of racially…
Last week, religious leaders and community members from Contra Costa County convinced county Sheriff David Livingston to withdraw his proposal for constructing a new 150-bed jail. Working in partnership with the local PICO California affiliate, CCISCO , these grassroots leaders were able to convince law enforcement stakeholders that the $6 million required for a new jail would be better spent on alternatives. A community advisory board recommended redirecting realignment funding into…
On September 27, 2012 at 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, Scott MacDonald , Chief Probation Officer of Santa Cruz County, and CJCJ’s Kate McCracken will present on Local reform in a realigned environment . This webinar will address the local impact of realignment and that jurisdictions must examine targeted strategies to achieve public safety goals while effectively directing limited resources. It will highlight the Santa Cruz experience and the value of data-driven techniques to deliberately restructure…
This month is the Justice Policy Institute (JPI)‘s Bail Reform Month . Their national public education campaign provides research showing that “money bail is a failed policy that does not protect public safety” and leads to unnecessary incarceration in local jails. If you have been following criminal justice realignment in California, this issue is of foremost importance. In California, approximately 71% of the jail population is unsentenced. Many of the detainees are in detention simply…
California is moving in the opposite direction of the rest of the nation when it comes to transferring juveniles into adult court systems. California’s practice of filing juvenile cases in adult court is not congruent with the efforts of many states that are removing youth from adult criminal justice system, strengthening juvenile courts, and changing their transfer laws to ensure youth offenders remain in the juvenile system. A new report from the national Campaign for Youth Justice …