Plan to end juvenile justice division faces fight

Plan to end juvenile justice division faces fight

"A group of criminal justice leaders are preparing to fight a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to entirely phase out the state's Division of Juvenile Justice over the next three years and return the most violent and troubled youths to county facilities, despite support for the proposal by some experts.

Probation chiefs, district attorneys and others say they will spend the next several months trying to persuade the Democratic governor to remove the proposal, which Brown says will save the state more than $100 million a year, from his budget. Many county officials believe the plan will unduly place the burden of incarcerating serious juvenile offenders on counties and put existing, successful rehabilitation programs at risk.

The officials were relieved last month when Brown backed off an earlier plan to shutter the state facilities this year, unless counties ponied up $125,000 a year per offender. Instead, in his latest budget proposal, released in January, the governor offered to work with county officials over the next year to come up with a smooth transition plan.

2015 closure proposed
Under Brown's plan, the state would stop accepting youths in January and close the Division of Juvenile Justice by June 30, 2015. Counties would not be able to send new juvenile offenders to the state agency between 2013 and 2015, but the state would continue to house those youths already in state facilities.

Gil Duran, a spokesman for Brown, said the governor believes that juvenile offenders "can be better treated at the local level, where they can be closer to their families and communities." He pledged the administration would continue to "talk with local officials and listen to their concerns so that we can effectively and sensibly implement necessary changes."

This week, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office bolstered Brown's assertion that the counties can deal with the last 1,100 youths that remain in the Division of Juvenile Justice and cost the state an average of $179,400 a year per offender.

The number of juvenile offenders overseen by the state agency has sharply declined since 1996, following lawsuits and a series of reforms that encouraged counties to keep more youths at home but also raised the cost of housing offenders at the state level."

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