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COMMONWEAL
THE JUVENILE JUSTICE PROGRAM
P.O. BOX 316, BOLINAS, CA 94924 — (415) 388-6666 — commonweal.org — JULY 2005
by David Steinhart
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California Budget Report:
Late Budget Restores Crime Prevention Act Funds
After missing the June 15th budget deadline, lawmakers finally ended their squabbling and approved a budget bill on July 7th, three weeks late. Shortly thereafter, on July 11th, Governor Schwarzenegger made it official by putting his signature on the spending measure.
The delay did not do any serious damage to the agreements reached earlier on state funds for California's youth crime and violence prevention programs. In January, the Governor had proposed to slash $75 million from the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act (CPA)—but under intense pressure from law enforcement and county governments, the Governor changed his mind. His May Budget Revision restored Schiff Cardenas funding to the prior-year level, subject only to a shift in the schedule of CPA funds payouts to counties.
The Governor's initial proposal to slash CPA funds would have dismantled a statewide safety net of youth crime and violence prevention programs. Funded programs range from juvenile hall mental health services to school-based remedial programs to programs for girls in the justice system. CPA funds also support local probation services and probation camps throughout the state. A cut of $75 million would likely have forced layoffs of probation staff, closures of probation camps and elimination of disposition options available to the Juvenile Courts.
In budget committee hearings, sheriffs and police chiefs told legislative budget committees that the CPA was an essential public safety program that should be fully funded. County supervisors (CSAC), probation chiefs and youth service groups also testified in support. The budget Conference Committee appropriated the full $100 million to CPA, without any payment delay. In final negotiations, the payment delay was reinstated. The final budget number for CPA for FY 05-06 is thus $26 million, enough (with prior-year payments) to float CPA programs on a cash basis at $100 million for FY 05-06. Next year, the intent is to fully fund CPA at $100 million on the new payment schedule.
TANF probation dollars moved to state general fund by legislative committees
Another key revenue stream supporting local juvenile probation services is the federal TANF program. Over the last six years, TANF has provided about $200 million annually to county probation departments. Last year, lawmakers came close to taking these dollars away from probation and redirecting them to welfare clients. This year, Legislative budget committees agreed on a plan to reallocate the $201 million TANF probation share to social services, while also approving a replacement general fund appropriation of $201 million to county probation departments, to be administered through the state Board of Corrections (now, the Corrections Standards Authority). The Governor has accepted this new plan in the final Budget Act.
After School, School Safety Grant Programs remain at levels proposed in January
Funding for the After School Education and Safety Act remains fixed at $ 121.5 million for FY 05-06— and amount locked in by the Proposition 49. For school safety grants, the Budget Bill appropriates a total of $107.4 million.
Corrections Reorganization took effect on July 1st—with new names and new hires for CYA, other corrections agencies
This year the Governor abandoned a broader plan to reorganize California government, but he did go forward with a Corrections Reorganization Plan (CRP). The plan was designed to bring efficiency and control to the Department of Corrections with its booming $7 billion annual budget.
Youth advocates—including Commonweal and the Youth Law Center— were not happy with the youth corrections side of the Reorganization Plan. They complained that the Governor's proposed merger of CDC and CYA threatened to crush the mission and focus of the youth system under the weight and bureaucracy of adult corrections. Responding to the these complaints, lawmakers negotiated changes to "Reorg" plan. Those changes, contained in SB 737 by Senator Gloria Romero, include:
- Youth facilities, which had been consolidated in the Plan with adult facilities under a single Chief Deputy, moved back to their own side of the organization chart, with separate facility, program and parole operations.
- A new Chief Deputy Secretary for Juvenile Justice, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, will oversee youth corrections.
- A state Commission on Juvenile Justice is created, replacing the old state Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission. The new commission, with legislative and Governor's appointees, will provide comprehensive oversight of state and local juvenile justice activity.
Critics of the youth corrections side of the Plan were generally satisfied with the SB 737 changes, and the compromise agreement took effect on July 1st. Now everyone will need to adjust to new names and abbreviations, replacing the familiar alphabet soup of the California corrections system. The Youth and Adult Corrections Agency becomes the "Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation" (DCR) headed by a Secretary who will have more power and control over the prison system and other correctional agencies. The Board of Corrections becomes the "Corrections Standards Authority", retaining its juvenile facility standards and inspection powers and continuing to administer grant programs like the Crime Prevention Act. The Youth Authority becomes the "Division of Juvenile Facilities", and the Youth Authority Board is abolished in favor of the "Board of Parole Hearings", having both adult and youth parole granting and revocation powers.
Undersecretary who pushed juvenile justice reform resigns; Florida official takes top youth job; Walt Allen is out as CYA Director
July also ushered in a new roster of state corrections officials. Rod Hickman remains as the chief of the new mega-department, but Undersecretary Kevin Carruth, a prime mover of the CYA reform agenda, has resigned. His replacement is the highly respected Jeanne Woodford, elevated from the director's job at CDC. The key youth corrections job created by the Reorg— the Chief Deputy for Juvenile Justice—has been filled with the appointment of Bernie Warner. Warner served for the last two years as Florida's director of probation services for state-committed youth; he gained familiarity with the California juvenile justice scene from recent consultant work with YACA on CYA reform. Walt Allen, the cheerful and tireless CYA Director, has left that job to run a new DCR Office of Correctional Safety. Elizabeth Siggins, the former Assistant Secretary for Juvenile Justice, stays on as a juvenile justice policy chief within the reorganized agency. It will take the restructured Department some time to adjust to these changes. It remains to be seen what the new lineup will mean for juvenile justice reform in California.
SB 570 (Migden, D.- S.F.). Establishes new court procedures in delinquency cases for evaluation and disposition of minors with serious mental or develop-mental disorders. Requires an "opt-in" vote by local supervisors. In Assembly Appropriations Committee
SB 609 (Romero, D.- LA). Romero's big CYA reform bill, mandating closure of the Chaderjain school and other changes at CYA, was gutted to remove costs and leave suspense in Sen. Appropriations. Passed Senate, now a two year bill in the Assembly.
SB 737 (Romero- D.- L.A). Includes all code changes needed to implement the Governor's Corrections Reorganization Plan, including negotiated changes for youth facilities and programs. Signed into law, Chapt.10.
SB 795(Romero, D-LA). This measure, transferring CYA parole operations from state to local probation departments, was also gutted and amended. Now requires CYA to notify local probation of a ward's prospective release date. Two year bill in the Assembly.
Administration Stumbles, Legislature Balks On Major Youth Authority Reforms
If you read the newspapers or watch TV, you know that the California Youth Authority (CYA) is in deep trouble. The CYA now consists of eight large facilities holding about 3,400 young offenders committed by county courts—some for serious crimes, others for moderate offenses. A mountain of evidence, compiled and made public over the last two years, paints the CYA as a dangerous, violent, unhealthy and programmatically bankrupt set of youth prisons running at high cost ($400 million/year) with low rates of success. In 2003, the Prison Law Office challenged CYA in a lawsuit (Farrell v. Allen), settled in 2004 and now subject to a court-monitored consent decree.
In the wake of the PLO litigation, the Administration decided to go for a total overhaul of the CYA, exceeding the minimum requirements of the Farrell litigation. A Governor's Juvenile Justice Working Group of state and local stakeholders was convened early in 2004 to advise administrators on CYA reforms. YACA hired a new Assistant Secretary for Juvenile Justice, and its top staff traveled to inspect model youth systems in Missouri, Colorado, Washington and elsewhere. In March 2005, still another group of advisors was convened with an even more ambitious agenda—the design of an A to Z makeover of the California juvenile justice system, one that could restore California's reputation as a national juvenile justice model.
In recent months, this lengthy planning process seemed close to bearing fruit. In April 2005, members of the Governor's Juvenile Justice Working Croup were told to expect a major executive announcement in May, linked to funds for a remake of CYA facilities. That announcement never came. The May Revise proposed only to continue the administration's exploration of reforms with $4.1 million for more planning staff and consultant contracts.
Reform momentum slowed again in June, when YACA Undersecretary Kevin Carruth, the Administration's top administrator pushing CYA reform, resigned. On July 1st, the Governor appointed Florida's Bernie Warner as the new Juvenile Justice Chief for California, sidelined CYA Director Walt Allen and left observers wondering who would now carry the ball on juvenile justice reform. Meanwhile, back at the Youth Authority, conditions have shown little or no improvement. A report issued in May 2005 by Inspector General Matt Cate cites major, ongoing deficiencies in programs, education, staffing and security at the N.A. Chaderjian school in Stockton. The report concludes that the Youth Authority is "failing in its core mission" of providing treatment to youth who, as a result "have little chance to end the cycle of criminality".
These persistent failures, the personnel shakeups and the glacial pace of reform have led many to question whether the Administration is truly committed to "a new vision" for juvenile justice and whether any significant reforms will indeed come about during the Schwarzenegger Governorship.
Lawmakers watch and wait
Last year, Senator Gloria Romero (D.- LA), the Legislature's powerful and tough-minded champion of CYA reform, blasted administrators for their handling of CYA and made them bristle by releasing videotapes of guards beating wards at the Chaderjian school. Since then, Romero and other lawmakers have been more conciliatory, hoping that the Administration would finally endorse a major juvenile justice reform plan. In this vein, Romero's CYA reform bills (SB 609, 795), originally mandating major CYA reforms, were gutted and amended. They are now two year bills—placeholders sitting in the Assembly, waiting to be injected with reform provisions acceptable to the Governor.
Puzzled in June by the YACA request for even more planning dollars, Legislative budget committees began to balk. In conference committee, the Administration's request for $4.1 million in CYA planning funds was chopped to $1.2 million, and budget control language was added requiring the Administration to make quarterly reports to the Legislature on how the funds were being spent.
July 1st brought a new name to CYA—it's now the "Division of Juvenile Facilities". But other tangible changes are still on hold.
California Youth Authority: Reform Options
In the California youth corrections debate, there is surprising agreement among stakeholders on the prime components of a revitalized system. Most agree that the main goal should continue to be the rehabilitation. Most agree that reforms are needed in these areas: the size and age of existing institutions, the prison-based culture of inmate control, high levels of institutional violence, inferior education delivery, the paucity of programs for wards with special needs (e.g., mental health) and the lack of aftercare services. Some proposals under review are listed below. (Keep in mind that as of 7/1/05 CYA has a new name—the "Division of Juvenile Facilities" within the "Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation").
- CYA population. Under current law CYA can take offenders at age 11 and can keep them (depending on the commitment offense) until age 25. One proposal is to reduce the upper age of CYA jurisdiction to 22 or less, thus reducing the population. Reformers are also weighing changes in the process governing length of stay. They must also address how the future system will serve counties that lack their own secure facilities, and what will happen to "sliding scale" fees charged to counties who send non-serious offenders into state care.
- CYA Facilities. California has huge youth institutions (average capacity about 600) and packs 50 or more wards into each unit. Model juvenile justice states like Missouri have living units that are much smaller, usually 20 or less. Some California facilities are old (the Preston School was built in 1894), and some, like Chad, have the hard architecture of prisons. Perhaps the most daunting challenge is to convert to a modern array of facilities that will serve specific ward populations (e.g., girls) on a smaller scale. This raises questions about what should be closed, what should be built, where it will be and who will pay for it all.
- Climate and culture. Now behavior is controlled by uniformed guards using pepper spray, restraints, lockdowns and other prison tools. The Administration has already filed a plan with the Farrell court to replace the prison climate with a "normative culture" of youth corrections focused on effective treatment. Support for softening the culture not universal; members of the guards union (CCPOA) see this as coddling wards and compounding public safety risks.
- Programs. Clearly needed are improvements in specific program areas, including education, health, mental health, sex offender treatment, and vocational training. Doing it all right will mean higher costs—but the higher treatment cost could be counter-balanced by a smaller overall population.
- Parole and Aftercare. One proposal is to shift responsibility for the 4,000 wards on the CYA parole caseload from the state to local probation departments. Critics assail the present setup as a parole roundup operation that fails to help young adults learn vocational skills, get jobs and stay out of trouble. Reformers would like to see effective aftercare services for wards, linked to graduated sanctions for parole violations.
Sources: California Youth Authority, California Dept. of Finance and California State Budgets FY 95/6-04/5. Cost per ward/year is annual budgeted fiscal year costs for CYA institutions and camps and education divided by the year end institutional population.
