February 9, 2007

County Report

County juvenile detention reform efforts enjoy early successes

By Supervisor Pete McHugh
Special to the Times

In mid-January, the Board of Supervisors learned that the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had closed its three-year investigation of the County's Juvenile Hall.

Prompted by allegations of abuse and use of excessive force from the community, the DOJ extensively reviewed the Hall's conditions of confinement. I am pleased to report that the DOJ did not sustain any findings of abuse or excessive force. The DOJ's January 2007 letter to the Board states that the County has satisfactorily addressed the deficiencies identified over the course site visits in 2003, 2004 and 2006. It also commends the Hall's management and staff from the Probation Department for being "dedicated to providing the appropriate care for youth in their custody."

The Probation Department's management and staff have worked hard for three years to implement the DOJ recommendations and those from the County's own team of outside experts. The final DOJ report testifies to their success in making Juvenile Hall a safer place for youth. It concludes that adequate numbers of probation staff members are on each shift to supervise youth. They are experienced and well-trained individuals who care deeply about the well being of youth. Overall, staff members use only approved techniques when applying force and they use physical and mechanical restraints as only a last resort. Restraints rarely result in injuries to youth or staff and the narrative descriptions in incident reports are superb.

The final DOJ report observes that youth at the Hall make relatively few child abuse allegations when compared to other jurisdictions. It finds that Probation’s new Internal Affairs Unit investigates these allegations in a thorough and a timely manner. Youth on suicide precautions receive frequent and random visual observations. The due process system adequately protects youth rights with safeguards that now include impartial staff supervising the process and youth able to present evidence and call witnesses at hearings.

Prior to County’s work on improving the conditions of confinement, the County began a major Juvenile Detention Reform Initiative (JDRI) in February 2002. JDRI seeks significant reduction in unnecessary incarcerations and the elimination of the higher rates of youth of color in the juvenile justice system. It uses the ratio of bookings to arrests as the major indicator of success. An arrest places a juvenile into custody while a booking transfers the arrested youth into the physical custody of the Probation Department at the Hall.

On the first goal, the County’s Probation Department has made some significant strides. In 2003, police booked one juvenile for every 5.5 juveniles arrested while in 2005, police booked one juvenile for almost every 10 arrests. For the same years, police are still booking juveniles arrested for serious felonies in roughly the same ratios.

On the second goal, the ratios of arrests to bookings for 2003 and 2005 within specific ethnic groups reflect the same trend of more arrests per booking. Disparities in the ratios of arrests to bookings based on ethnicity in almost every crime category continue to exist at some level. For example, Whites had a ratio of 7 to 1 in 2005 for assaults, while all other races or ethnicities had 3 to 1 ratios.

Although the County has enjoyed some early successes in JDR, much work still needs to be done. County staff wants to move into providing family related services and helping young adults re-enter the community and remain out of the justice system. The County’s current budget problems cast uncertainty on our ability to make more dramatic improvements. I am confident that if the County finds adequate, alternative funding, the dedicated Probation staff and their community partners will achieve JDRI’s two primary goals.