In response to Governor Brown’s proposal to eliminate the State’s Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) and realign juvenile justice in California, a new Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) series investigates some of the underlying concerns about the proposed realignment and reveals radically different juvenile justice practices across California’s fifty-eight counties.
Part One of the series addresses whether closing DJF would increase county reliance on direct adult criminal court filings. The study’s major findings include:
- The majority of counties would not be significantly impacted by the closure of DJF.
- Thirteen counties employ State-dependent juvenile justice practices that would significantly obstruct juvenile justice reform.
- These same thirteen counties accounted for 61% of all direct adult criminal court filings and 46% of all DJF commitments, but only 37% of juvenile felony arrests, in 2009.
Read the full report at “”
Part Two in the series demonstrates that California’s counties currently have the available institutional capacity needed to house all juvenile offenders upon the closure of DJF.
Read the full report at “.”
Look for more publications in the Juvenile Justice Realignment Series at CJCJ’s Resource Center in the upcoming weeks.