CJCJ's Executive Director Daniel Macallair, is a practitioner-in-residence at San Francisco State University (SFSU)'s Department of Criminal Justice Studies. These slides are from his Juvenile Justice course materials.

1. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
The Punitive 80s and 90s and the End
of Institutional Reform

2. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Punitive Policy and the End of the
Youth Authority Era
• Commonweal Reports 1984-
1990: pulling back the curtain on
institutional violence
• Wilson administration and the
origins of population declines
• Imposing county fees for overuse
of Youth Authority commitments
• Investigations, media exposes,
and the Vasconcellos hearings

3. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
The Farrell Lawsuit
• 2003 – Prison Law Office files a lawsuit against the youth Authority
alleging systemic inhumane treatment of youth
• 2004 – state enters into a consent decree acknowledging conditions
in state facilities and promises reforms
• 2005 – Governor Schwarzenegger abolishes the Dept. of the Youth
Authority
• 2006 – State issues two reports acknowledging system was broken

4. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Lawsuit cites constitutional violations in six
program areas
• Overall safety and
welfare
• Education
• Mental health treatment
• Medical treatment
• Sex offender treatment
• Access for wards with
disabilities

5. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Mental Health Unit: Preston

6. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Conditions of consent decree
• State agreed to oversight by court-appointed special
master
• State promises to engage in a series of actions to
overhaul entire youth corrections system

7. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Schwarzenegger Reforms
• Governor restructures
California’s corrections
system’s administrative
structure.
• California Youth Authority is
eliminated as an independent
agency.
• Youth corrections institutions
merged with adult corrections
system as Division of Juvenile
Facilities
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (2003-
2011)

8. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Safety and Welfare Plan: Implementing Reform in California
March 31, 2006
State’s independent experts issue report detailing “a system that is broken
almost everywhere you look”, citing:
 High levels of violence and fear in the institutions
 Unsafe conditions for wards and staff
 Antiquated facilities unsuited for any mission
 An adult corrections mentality with adult juvenile mix
 Management by crisis with little time to make changes
 Frequent lockdowns to manage violence with subsequent program
reductions
 Time adds for infractions adding over 8 months to average lengths of stay
 Lengths of stay almost triple the average for nation
 Hours on end when youths have nothing to do

9. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Experts finding continued
• Vocational classrooms that are idle or
running at half speed
• Capitulation to gang culture with
youths housed by gang affiliation
• Low levels of staffing and huge living
units
• Abysmal achievement despite
enormous outlays for education
• Information management systems
incapable of supporting management
Little partnership with counties and a
fragmented system
• Poor re-entry planning and too few
services on parole
• Enormous costs with little to show for it
(California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of
Juvenile Justice
Safety and Welfare Plan March 2006

10. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
State’s response to expert’s report
Safety and Welfare Remedial Plan:
Implementing Reform in California
(July 10, 2006)

11. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
California’s route to promised reform
 Create capacity for change
 Reduce fear and violence
 Identify a rehabilitative
treatment model
 Lay the foundation for
treatment reform
 Convert facilities to
rehabilitative model

12. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
State fails to make progress on Farrell
reforms (2007)
Series of reports by
independent court
appointed monitors
finds little progress
despite declining
institutional population
and increased
expenditures

13. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
California Division of Juvenile Justice (CYA to 2005)
Institutional Cost Per Ward Per Year 1996 – 2007
$36,118 $39,425 $40,528 $43,565
$49,111
$56,247
$63,961
$83,223
$92,545
$115,000
$178,000
$218,000
$0
$50,000
$100,000
$150,000
$200,000
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Sources: CA state budgets, CA Dept. of Finance, CA CDCR-Div. of Juvenile Facilities

14. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Governor’s response to lack of
progress on reform
Senate Bill 81 (August
2007)

15. Senate Bill 81: juvenile justice
reform through realignment
 State youth corrections population will be “downsized”
to about one half its current level
 Non-violent juvenile offenders will stay in county
programs and facilities and can no longer be committed
to state institutions
 State will pay counties for new juvenile disposition and
aftercare programs
 State’s Division of Juvenile Facilities will continue to
accept serious- violent offenders committed by county
courts

16. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Little Hoover commission issues
bipartisan report
Calls for eliminating state role in
administering youth correctional
institutions by 2011

17. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Commission’s Recommendations
 Create an independent office of juvenile justice to plan,
develop, fund, and oversee a comprehensive continuum
of services at the county level
 Consolidate all state juvenile justice funding into one
dedicated funding stream
 Elimination of the state’s role in administering juvenile
correctional institutions and shifting responsibilities to
the counties

18. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Governor Brown and the Future of Juvenile Justice in
California
• Elimination of the DJJ
• Transfer of all Juvenile Justice functions to the counties
• Provide resources to the counties to augment capacity
Dear CJCJ Board: The end of the year is upon us and the holidays are approaching. I would like to request that the Board of Directors consider a year end contribu

19. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Emerging System of Juvenile Justice in California
• County Juvenile Halls, Ranches and Camps become
long term confinement options
• Community-Based Interventions are expanded
• New Federal funding streams are utilized to enhance
programing for high risk youths
• State maintains an oversight sight role but no direct
services

20. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Obstacles to Reform
• Repeating the Past (path dependency)
• Interest groups (primary and secondary)
• Limitations of lawsuits (planting the seeds for regeneration)
• County complicity
• Keeping secrets (see no evil)
• Nicer institution syndrome
• Arguments against reform of state institutions (fostering
county lethargy)

21. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Returning to the Past: the California Leadership Academy
and the Myth of the Rehabilitative Institution
Proposed Institutional Design - 1890 Proposed Institutional Design - 2014

22. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Governor Newsom Calls for Reform of the State’s Youth
Corrections System January (2019)
• Declares that the system is not
providing rehabilitation and is in
need of reform
• Plans to move the three main
institutions that comprise Division
of Juvenile Justice to Dept. of
Human Services
• Plan premised on belief that new
administrative structure will create
rehabilitative institutions
• New name will be the Dept. of
Youth and Community Restoration

23. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
Governor Newsom Calls for Closing State Youth
Corrections System (May 14, 2020)
• Realign all juvenile justice
functions to counties
• Utilize vacant juvenile hall
space
• End all new DJJ referrals on
January 1, 2021
• Create a young adult section at
Valley State Prison
•

24. www.cjcj.org
© Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice 2013
40 Boardman Place
San Francisco, CA 94103
References
JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM: REALIGNING RESPONSIBILITIES
Little Hoover Commission
Unmet Promises: Continued Violence and Neglect in California’s Division of Juvenile Justice 2019
Closing California’s Division of Juvenile Facilities: An Analysis of County Institutional Capacity 2009
By
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice