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D.5
To: Board of Supervisors
From: PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE
Date: July  24, 2018
The Seal of Contra Costa County, CA
Contra
Costa
County
Subject: Racial Justice Task Force Final Report and Recommendations

APPROVE OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On:   07/24/2018
APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes: SEE ADDENDUM

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
NO:
John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor
Contact: L. DeLaney, 925-335-1097
cc: Paul Reyes, Senior Deputy County Administrator    
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED:     July  24, 2018
David Twa,
 
BY: , Deputy

 

RECOMMENDATION(S):

1. CONSIDER adopting the "Racial Justice Task Force--Final Report and Recommendations," prepared by Resource Development Associates and recommended by the Public Protection Committee of the Board of Supervisors.  
  

2. CONSIDER referring to the Public Protection Committee the matter of an Implementation Plan for FY 2018-19 and the structure of an Implementation Oversight body.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The fiscal impact from the adoption of the recommendations has not been determined as yet. The contract for the facilitation and data analysis services for the project was $225,650, which was paid for with revenue from AB 109 Public Safety Realignment allocated to the County Administrator's Office.



BACKGROUND:

The Public Protection Committee first considered this matter on its agenda in July 2015 in response to an April 2015 letter to the Board of Supervisors from the Racial Justice Coalition. After PPC discussion and direction, staff returned with a comprehensive report to the PPC in September 2015 with data related to race in the local justice system, the County’s Workplace Diversity Training, and information regarding outside diversity and implicit bias trainings.

  
In November 2015 the PPC discussed the data from the September 2015 staff report and how it compared to the County’s 2008 report on Disproportionate Minority Contacts (DMC) in the local juvenile justice system. This led to joint recommendations to the PPC in December 2015 by the Chief Probation Officer, District Attorney, and Public Defender that included:  
  
1. The County convene a Task Force to revisit and expand upon the findings of the County’s 2008 juvenile justice DMC report.  
  
2. The County enter into a contract for a facilitator to help guide the Task Force through this process, and  
  
3. A researcher be paid to help the Task Force collect and analyze data during the process.  
  
In April 2016, the Board of Supervisors accepted recommendations from the PPC to form a 17-member Task Force and approved the composition in September 2016.  
  
Following up the remaining recommendations from above, in September 2016 County Administrator staff worked with the Reentry Coordinator and representatives from the AB 109 Community Advisory Board (CAB), the District Attorney’s Office (Tom Kensok), the Public Defender Robin Lipetzky, and the Racial Justice Coalition (Jeff Landau) to develop and release a Request for Proposals (RFP) to secure “Facilitation and Data Analyst Services” to help guide the work of the Task Force. The composition of a Review Panel was also selected that consisted of four representatives from the County’s law and justice partners (District Attorney, Probation, Sheriff, and Public Defender) and four representatives of the public that were appointed by the Racial Justice Coalition.  
  
Resource Development Associates (RDA) was ultimately awarded a contract by the Board of Supervisors on February 14, 2017 to provide the facilitation and data analysis services to the Racial Justice Task Force.  
  
On April 5, 2017, the RJTF convened for the first time.The RJTF met monthly from April 2017 through June 2018 to review data on local criminal and juvenile justice systems and processes, discuss best practices and emerging practices for addressing racial disparities in those systems and processes, and develop recommendations for action to address those disparities. Two ad hoc subcommittees were also convened to foster community engagement and plan for two series of community forums. In November 2017, the RJTF hosted 5 community forums to solicit residents’ input on priority areas for the Task Force to focus on and in May 2018, the RJTF hosted 3 additional forums to solicit input on preliminary recommendations. On June 6, 2018, the Task Force met for the last time to vote on recommendations to present to the Board of Supervisors.  
  
The purpose of this report (Attachment A) is to present those recommendations to the Board and the larger body of local stakeholders in order to move forward their adoptions and implementation. This memo begins with a brief discussion of the considerations taken into account by the RJTF as it developed these recommendations, followed by an overview of the racial disparities in Contra Costa County, and then a presentation of recommendations. Appendices provide more information on the Task Force voting process, including a breakdown of how each RJTF member voted on each recommendation, as well as additional data on disparities in local criminal and juvenile justice systems.  
  
Racial Justice Task Force Members:  

Member Seat Name
1. County Probation Officer Todd Billeci
2. Public Defender Robin Lipetzky
3. District Attorney Tom Kensok
4. Sheriff-Coroner John Lowden
5. Health Services Director Dr. William Walker
6. Superior Court Designee* Magda Lopez
7. County Police Chief’s Association representative Bisa French
8. Mount Diablo Unified School District representative Debra Mason
9. Antioch Unified School District representative Cardenas Shackelford
10. West Contra Costa Unified School District representative Marcus Walton
11. CBO seat 1 Stephanie Medley
12. CBO seat 2 Donnell Jones
13. CBO seat 3 Tamisha Torres-Walker
14. CBO seat 4 Leslie Takahashi
15. CBO seat 5 Dennisha Marsh
16. Mental Health representative Christine Gerchow, PhD.
17. Public Member – At Large Harlan Grossman
  
Attachment B is a summary of the final recommendations.  
  
Attachment C is a letter from the Racial Justice Coalition, addressed to the Board of Supervisors.  
  
The Public Protection Committee considered these recommendations at its meeting on June 25, 2018.

CLERK'S ADDENDUM

Speakers:  Judisth Tannenbaum; Reverend Leslie Takahashi, resident of Martinez; Gail Thomas, resident of Richmond; Jane Courant, CCC Racial Justice Coalition (CCCRJC); Jerry D. Elster, Rubicon; Kate Newkirk, resident of Pleasant Hill; Erich Holtmann, resident of Bay Point; Melody Howe Weintraub, Multi-faith Action Coalition; Blanca Retano, ACCE; Emelea, ACCE; Francisco Torres, ACCE; David Sharples, resident of Richmond; Melvin Willis, Richmond; Willie Mims, ECNAACP/PBPA; Emily Ross, CCCRJC; Douglas A. Leich, CCCRJC; Richard Bell, El Cerrito Progressives; Charles Smith, resident of Pittsburg; Diana Becton, CCC District Attorney; Elsa Stevens, resident of Richmond; Tamisha Walker; Cheryl Sudduth, CCCRJC, ACLU, CCIRA; Suzanne Llewellyn, resident of Walnut Creek.
 
 ADOPTED the "Racial Justice Task Force--Final Report and Recommendations," with the exclusion of recommendations 18 and 19:

18) Establish an independent grievance process for individuals in custody in County adult detention facilities to report concerns related to conditions of confinement based on gender, race, religion, and national origin. This process shall not operate via the Sheriff’s Office or require any review by Sheriff’s Office staff.

19) Establish an independent monitoring body to oversee conditions of confinement in County adult detention facilities based on gender, race, religion, and national origin and report back to the Board of Supervisors

 And REFERRED to the Public Protection Committee the matter of an Implementation Plan for FY 2018-19 and the structure of an Implementation Oversight body.

AYES: Andersen, Burgis, Mitchoff NOES: Gioia, Glover ABSENT: None   ABSTAIN: None

REFERRED to the Public Protection Committee, who will take input from the Racial Justice Task Force and the Sheriff’s Department, the recommendations regarding the establishment of an independent grievance process and independent monitoring body, to report back to the full Board.  

AYES: Gioia, Andersen, Burgis, Mitchoff, Glover NOES: None  ABSENT: None  ABSTAIN: None

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