On February 13, 2018, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Committee a review of the production of the County's Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan. The plan is due to the state on May 1 of each year, as a condition of Contra Costa’s annual funding through the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) and Youthful Offender Block Grant (YOBG). For Contra Costa County, this amounts to over $8 million in annual funding specifically for juvenile justice activities.
Subsequent to the referral, the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC) met on March 6, 2018 to discussed the revised, consolidated Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan. The JJCC is staffed by the Probation Department and is composed of the following individuals in CY 2018:
- Todd Billeci, Probation Department (Chair of JJCC)
- Supervisor Karen Mitchoff, (Current BOS Chair rotates annually)
- Karen Moghtader, Public Defender’s Office
- Dan Cabral, District Attorney’s Office
- Brian Vanderlind, Office of the Sheriff
- Lynn Mackey, Contra Costa Office of Education
- Eric Ghisletta, Martinez Police Department
- Shirley Lorenz, Juvenile Justice-Delinquency Prevention Commission
- Dan Batiuchok, Behavior Health-Health Services Department
- Kathy Marsh, Employment and Human Services Department - Children and Family Services
- Mickie Marchetti, REACH Project
- Ruth Barajas-Cardona, Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
- Fatima Matal Sol, County Alcohol and Other Drugs Director
At the April 2018 meeting of the Public Protection Committee, staff was directed to return at a future meeting date with information regarding the Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC), the Delinquency Prevention Commission (DPC) and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC). This information will allow the Committee to better assess a path forward for potential changes, mergers or consolidation of juvenile justice oversight by multiple advisory committees.
At the September 10, 2018 meeting, staff presented the following a summary of the JJC, the DPC and the JJCC:
Juvenile Justice Commission:
The Juvenile Justice Commission is a state body created by statute and is in effect part of the Superior Court. (Welf. & Inst., § 229.). The charge of JJCs is, among other things, to inspect detention facilities or group homes in counties where a minor has been held in custody. In addition, a JJC may hold hearings from time-to-time and compel the attendance of individuals to testify at such hearings.
The JJC is not subject to the Brown Act, but rather the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Gov. Code, § 11120 et. seq.) and falls within an exemption to that Act specifically for courts. (Gov. Code, § 11121.1 (a).) The exemption allows for the Court to choose not to post agendas or otherwise meet publicly.
The JJC does not direct any County financial resources allocated for juvenile justice.
Delinquency Prevention Commission:
The board of supervisors in each county has statutory authority to create and appoint members to a Delinquency Prevention Commission. The charge of a DPC is to coordinate on a countywide basis activities of governmental and non-governmental entities related to juvenile delinquency prevention. In lieu of appointing all members, a county board may designate the JJC (the State body described above) to also serve as the DPC. In Contra Costa County, the Board has chosen to designate members of the Court's JJC as the County's DPC by ordinance. This means that the membership of the County DPC is appointed by the Court and not the County.
The DPC is a local body implemented in this County by an ordinance. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 233. Ord. Code, Ch. 26-6, “Delinquency Prevention Commission.”) Thus, it is a legislative body for purposes of the Brown Act. (Gov. Code, § 54952 (a), (b).) DPC meetings must be conducted in accordance with the Brown Act.
The DPC does not direct any County financial resources allocated for juvenile justice.
Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council:
The JJCC is created pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 749.22 and is charged with creating and maintaining a multi-agency juvenile justice plan composed of several critical parts, including, but not limited to:
(a) An assessment of existing law enforcement, probation, education, mental health, health, social services, drug and alcohol and youth services resources which specifically target at-risk juveniles, juvenile offenders, and their families.
(b) An identification and prioritization of the neighborhoods, schools, and other areas in the community that face a significant public safety risk from juvenile crime, such as gang activity, daylight burglary, late-night robbery, vandalism, truancy, controlled substance sales, firearm-related violence, and juvenile alcohol use within the council’s jurisdiction.
(c) A local action plan (LAP) for improving and marshaling the resources set forth in subdivision (a) to reduce the incidence of juvenile crime and delinquency in the areas targeted pursuant to subdivision (b) above and the greater community.
(d) Develop information and intelligence-sharing systems to ensure that county actions are fully coordinated, and to provide data for measuring the success of the grantee in achieving its goals.
(e) Identify outcome measures.
The JJCC does make recommendations for the allocation of County financial resources juvenile justice. Specifically, the multi-agency juvenile justice plan is required to received a state allocation of Youthful Offender Block Grant (YOBG) and Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) each year. For fiscal year 2018/19, the County estimates receipt of $8.96 million ($4.7 million from JJCPA and $4.2 million from YOBG). For fiscal year 2017/18, the County received a combined amount of $8.2 million from both sources. |
At the September 2018 meeting of the Public Protection Committee, staff was directed to return at the next meeting to consider the next steps needed to consolidate the delinquency prevention functions of the DPC and JJCC. Staff was also directed to return with information on the membership of the JJCC to allow the Committee to better assess the need for additional seats.
Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council Membership:
Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) section 749.22 establishes the minimum membership of the JJCC. Per WIC §749.22, the JJCC "shall, at a minimum, include the chief probation officer, as chair, and one representative each from the district attorney's office, the public defender's office, the sheriff's department, the board of supervisors, the department of social services, the department of mental health, a community-based drug and alcohol program, a city police department, the county office of education or a school district, and an at-large community representative. In order to carry out its duties pursuant to this section, a coordinating council shall also include representatives from nonprofit community-based organizations providing services to minors."
Below are the members of the JJCC as of March 2018:
| Seat |
Incumbent |
Representing |
| Chief Probation Officer, as Chair |
Todd Billeci |
Probation Department |
| District Attorney's Office |
Dan Cabral |
District Attorney's Office |
| Public Defender's Office |
Karen Moghtader |
Public Defender's Office |
| Sheriff's Department |
Brian Vanderlind |
Sheriff's Office |
| Board of Supervisors |
Supevisor Mitchoff |
Board of Supervisors |
| Department of Social Services |
Kathy Marsh |
Employment and Human Services Department - Children and Family Services |
| Department of Mental Health |
Dan Batiuchok |
Behavior Health - Heath Services Department |
| Community-based Drug and Alcohol Program |
Fatima Matal Sol |
County Alcohol and Other Drugs |
| City Police Department |
Eric Ghisletta |
Martinez Police Department |
| County Office of Education or a School District |
Lynn Mackey |
Contra Costa Office of Education |
| At-large Community Representative |
Shirley Lorenz |
Juvenile Justice - Delinquency Prevention Commission |
| Nonprofit Community-based Organization #1 |
Mickie Marchetti |
REACH Project |
| Nonprofit Community-based Organization #2 |
Ruth Barajas-Cardona |
Bay Area Community Resources (BACR) |
Considerations:
The County has two advisory bodies that are charged with similar duties. Specifically, the duties of the Delinquency Prevention Commission must be assumed in parallel by the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council while deliberating and developing the annual multi-agency juvenile justice plan. For this reason, staff recommends that the Committee consider recommending to the full Board of Supervisors:
1. Dissolution of the Delinquency Prevention Commission, including full repeal of County Ordinance Code, Ch. 26-6, “Delinquency Prevention Commission" to effectuate the repeal; and
2. Direct the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council to assume the duties of coordinating juvenile delinquency prevention initiatives through the annual multi-agency juvenile justice planning process.
This would ensure that delinquency prevention activities are evaluated in tandem with other juvenile justice initiatives from a policy and funding perspective. Additionally, this would avoid confusing the duties of the Juvenile Justice Commission and the Delinquency Prevention Commission, which currently share the same membership, but have different open meeting requirements and report to separate governmental entities (i.e. one to the County and one to the State via the local Superior Court).
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