In February 2018, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Public Protection Committee (the Committee) a review of the production of the County’s Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan, which included a review of advisory bodies that provide juvenile justice oversight. The Committee identified two County advisory bodies, the Delinquency Prevention Commission (DPC) and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC), that have been charged with similar duties. The Committee recommends that the JJCC assume the obligations and duties of the DPC and that the DPC be dissolved to avoid confusion, duplication of efforts, and to ensure that any delinquency prevention initiative is evaluated in tandem with other juvenile justice initiatives from a policy and funding perspective.
The DPC is a multiagency advisory body charged with coordinating county-based juvenile delinquency prevention initiatives. Like the DPC, the JJCC is also a multiagency advisory body. The JJCC, however, is charged with creating and maintaining the comprehensive County Juvenile Justice Plan, which is composed of a number of critical parts, including coordinating county-based juvenile delinquency prevention initiatives. The Juvenile Justice Plan also includes recommendations on the allocations of funds from the Youthful Offender Block Grant and Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act.
To ensure that the delinquency prevention initiatives are evaluated in tandem with other juvenile justice initiatives from a policy and funding perspective, the Committee recommends the dissolution of the DPC and that the JJCC assume the duties of coordinating juvenile delinquency prevention initiatives through the annual multi-agency juvenile justice planning process.
The JJCC currently is composed of thirteen (13) members in the categories required by California Welfare and Institutions Code, section 749.22, which includes: the chief probation officer, as chair; and one representative each from the District Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the Sheriff's Office, the Board of Supervisors, the Children and Family Services Department, the Behavioral Health Department, the County’s Alcohol and Other Drugs program, a city police department, and the Contra Costa Office of Education; one at-large community representative; and two representatives from nonprofit community-based organizations.
To best carry out its duties, the Committee recommends that the JJCC’s membership be increased to nineteen (19) members by adding one (1) representative from the County Public Health Department, three (3) additional at-large community representatives, and two (2) at-large youth representatives.
The County will continue to have two advisory bodies that are charged with overlapping duties, one of which is appointed by the Contra Costa County Superior Court.