In this issue:
- San Francisco to end youth detention with CJCJ and community support
- New fact sheet finds declines in California’s urban crime amid justice reforms
- Reflecting on the impact of CJCJ’s Youth Justice Mentoring program
San Francisco to end youth detention with CJCJ and community support
As San Francisco’s leaders seek to close juvenile hall, CJCJ and community-based organizations provide services that better support youth.
Recently, the proposal to close San Francisco’s juvenile hall by supervisors Ronen, Walton, and Haney has received support from a majority of the Board of Supervisors. Further, Mayor London Breed created an expert panel to reevaluate San Francisco’s juvenile justice system. CJCJ supports the decision of local leaders to reimagine a system that better supports our city’s young people. A new op-ed by CJCJ Communications & Policy Intern Alex Barrett-Shorter uplifts San Francisco as a model for the state and nation in closing costly and harmful facilities.
This critical shift toward community-based alternatives to confinement can pave a path that better supports young people. As we take steps toward improving our juvenile justice system, it is important that city leaders and community providers come together to share expertise.
On Friday, May 24th (6pm‑7:30pm), join us at Manny’s in the Mission for an important conversation! San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton and CJCJ Executive Director Dan Macallair, among other community leaders, will discuss what closing juvenile hall and investing in our alternatives can mean for the city’s youth.
RSVP to the Friday 5⁄24 event: Juvenile Justice: Should we be locking up kids? »
New fact sheet finds declines in California’s urban crime amid justice reforms
CJCJ’s recent research on crime in California’s large cities finds a four percent decline in urban crime since 2010.
A new fact sheet by CJCJ Senior Research Fellow Mike Males finds that urban crime rates in California have dropped by 5 percent within the one-year period between early-2017 and 2018. The fact sheet compares recently-released FBI crime statistics on 73 cities for the first six months of 2018 to early-year crime data for the prior eight years.
During a period of large-scale criminal justice reforms, including Proposition 47 and Public Safety Realignment, California’s large cities generally experienced declines in crime. The fact sheet finds that local crime trends vary city to city, with 76.7 percent (56 out of 73 cities) showing decreases in total crime rates from early-2017 to 2018.
California’s urban crime rate in early 2018 is the third lowest ever recorded, as rates have continuously declined in recent decades and persisted through an era of reform to the criminal justice system.
Learn more about CJCJ’s Policy Analysis »
Reflecting on the impact of CJCJ’s Youth Justice Mentoring program
As CJCJ says farewell to our Youth Justice Mentoring program, we honor the experiences of youth and staff members in making the program a success.
The Youth Justice Mentoring Program (YJM) has served youth involved in San Francisco’s juvenile justice system since 2001. It began as a Youth Justice Institute (YJI) program serving female youth in San Francisco detention centers and soon expanded to provide gender-responsive and culturally appropriate mentoring to male youth as well.
Since CJCJ began operating the program in 2013, YJM has paired volunteer mentors with youth to provide weekly mentoring support both in detention and in the community upon release. This past month, the YJM program sunsetted due to loss of funding, but we honor the shared passion and support for our youth that fostered its success.
Joined by YJM volunteer mentors and Mentor Coordinator Trang Nguyen, youth celebrated their time together during their final outing at House of Air, a trampoline park in San Francisco. They reflected on the strong relationships they built and each youth’s personal growth through the program.
Trang expressed, “Our mentors dedicated their time and efforts to support our young ones in different stages of the justice system. Many have gone above and beyond to support their mentee. It has been an honor and privilege to serve the youth through our YJM program.”
Find out more about CJCJ’s direct services »
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