In August 2020, Senate Bill (SB) 823 was signed into law with the intent to end placement of justice system-involved youth in State facilities, and instead, realign the responsibility to provide rehabilitative services for this population to their respective counties of residence at the county level. Each county is now tasked with developing a plan for rehabilitative treatment for those youth who previously would have been sentenced to the California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). This planning effort is in partnership with the Juvenile Justice Realignment Subcommittee of the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, which has held five public meetings on the topic.
Unique to this population, SB 823 also established the age of jurisdiction at: age 23 for youth adjudicated of WIC 707(b) offenses (i.e. murder, arson, rape, etc.); age 25 for youth adjudicated of offenses that would result in an aggregate sentence of seven or more years in adult court; and age 21 for all other youth. Also unique to this population is the average length of stay. While the average length of stay for youth detained in the Juvenile Detention Facility is 22 days, the average length of stay for Yolo County youth committed to DJJ has been 2.4 years. The shortest length of stay has been just under 2 years with the longest length of staying being almost 6 years – more than a quarter of a youth’s life.
On July 1, 2021, DJJ will cease receiving new intakes and will completely close by July 2023. While there are no Yolo County youth expected to be sentenced to DJJ before July 1 of this year, Yolo County must be prepared to provide long-term treatment from this point on for future youth adjudicated by the Court to a post-DJJ-type program. Options for all counties grappling with this realignment are:
- Option A: Creating a local long-term treatment program
- Option B: Hosting youth from other counties
- Option C: Contracting with another county for these services
- Option D: Opting in to the Secure Track County Consortium – a coordinated statewide treatment placement program
The benefits and risks for each option, as well as anticipated costs, have been updated and can be found in Attachment A. The anticipated funding to Yolo County over the next three years for Juvenile Justice Realignment is as follows:
FY 2021-2022: $280,100
FY 2022-2023: $829,728
FY 2023-2024: $1,374,609
Limited one-time funding is available to counties for necessary facility modifications to house the realigned population and grant applications are due by May 12, 2021. Should the Board of Supervisors choose to create a local program, and possibly host youth from other counties, the necessary facility modifications to the JDF have been refined since the April 6, 2021 Board meeting and are now estimated to cost at a minimum of $740,000 and up to $1,028,500. The amount Yolo County is eligible to receive in a BSCC grant for facility modifications is $47,086. This figure has also been updated (a third of what was originally projected) as the BSCC is now identifying Yolo County as a small county based on the county’s population of 12 to 17 year-olds versus the total population of Yolo County.
The realigned Yolo County juvenile population projected for 2021-22 is one youth and no more than two youth for 2022-23 and 2023-24. However, there are currently no youth in the pipeline that would be adjudicated to a DJJ-type program. In general, adjudication to a DJJ-type program typically takes 9 to 12 months.
Best practices indicate this population should be housed separately from the current JDF population and, depending upon the age of the youth and/or the youth’s offense, may be further separated. Research indicates the resulting isolation given our anticipated low DJJ population is not a best practice for the well-being and development of these youth.
Staff Recommendation
The benefits and risks for each option have not changed since the Probation Department presented these options to the Board of Supervisors on April 6, 2021. However, as noted above, costs related to necessary facility modifications for Options A & B have almost tripled while the related grant opportunity has been reduced by a third.
Developing a local long-term treatment program (Option A) is not recommended because the costs to operate a local DJJ-like program may or may not be covered by State funding and because the County will carry all the risk and responsibility of maintaining a more complex operation than what is currently required at the JDF. More importantly, Option A is not recommended due to the detrimental impacts to the youth adjudicated to such a program who would essentially be isolated for multiple years of their lives.
Hosting youth from other counties (Option B) is not recommended as there currently is no interest from other counties. Additionally, the facility modifications would be significantly greater due to creating a larger operation and Yolo County would carry all the risk and responsibility for the program. Finally, in the best case scenario, Yolo County would break even with the revenue from other counties but has the potential to fall short depending upon the need of other counties.
Contracting at this time with another county for these services (Option C) is not recommended as there is no known opportunity in the region. Option C, however, could potentially be a viable option in the future.
Both the Probation Department and the Juvenile Justice Realignment Subcommittee recommend Option D, which would opt Yolo County into the Secure Track County Consortium. This option would offer the following benefits:
- Assurance of program capacity;
- All treatment needs would be covered and robust services offered; and
- The risk and responsibility of such a program would be managed by the Consortium.
Furthermore, as Yolo County has no youth in the pipeline for a DJJ-like program, the only commitment at this time is to opt into the Consortium. Should the Consortium option evolve in such a way that it is determined Yolo County’s needs will not be met, contracting with a nearby county (Option C) would again be considered.
While Yolo County’s final plan for Juvenile Justice Realignment is not due until January 2022, the application for a facility modification grant is due on May 12, 2021. Board direction on which option to pursue at this time will guide the Probation Department on whether to seek a BSCC grant for facility modifications or instead plan to opt into the Secure Track County Consortium. The department will continue to work with the Juvenile Justice Realignment Subcommittee to develop the final plan for Juvenile Justice Realignment and will keep the Board apprised of those efforts. |