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But Alameda is reversing that trend:
On 3/29/16, spearheaded by
County Supervisors Carson and Valle
and in partnership with community organizations,
Alameda County passed an immediate moratorium
on assessing or collecting all juvenile justice fees.
This was the first moratorium passed by legislation in California.
Santa Clara plans to impose a moratorium on July 1, 2016,
and expects to make it permanent by October 1, 2016.
Ellen McDonnell, for Racial Justice Coalition
On 4/25/16,
the County announced the opportunity
for community members
to apply for the 17-member Task Force.
Applications were due 6/13/16.
The County received 28 applications
for seven community seats.
Yesterday, 6/27/16, the Board of Supervisors'
Public Protection Committee (Supervisors Andersen and Gioia) interviewed applicants
and selected the seven community members.
Brooke Harris,
Post-Disposition Reentry Attorney,
CoCo Office of the Public Defender
John Gioia, Supervisor: District 1
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
*Identifying details have been modified.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Police, Probation,
District Attorney
and Court
Randy's Path
"Deferred Entry of Judgment" allows a conviction to be dismissed if the person abides by conditions for 18 months.
There are a lot of rules for me to follow.
Questions for Brooke?
So, after stealing two watches and an iPad at 14,
Randy has been in the juvenile justice system
for almost four years.
He has spent almost all of his teenage years
away from home and family:
at the Ranch, at the Hall, or in a group placement.
He has been moved at least eight times.
His educational setting has changed with each move.
Cost of Probation
The possible total cost billable to Randy's mother
for all of his years under Probation supervision
likely approaches $40,000.
Although this amount can be reduced
based on CoCo's sliding scale
(which Donté will talk about next),
the amount due from his mother
will probably exceed $10,000.
Questions for Brooke?
Tuesday, June 28, 2016, Noon to 2 PM
Bermuda Room, Civic Center, Richmond, CA
Donté Blue
Contra Costa County
Reentry Coordinator
What's your name, what brings you here today, and how did you learn about RSG?
The Cost of Juvenile Probation
Contra Costa County Probation Department
has a "Collections Unit"
that is responsible for assessing, billing, and collecting various
justice-related fines and fees (for both adult probationers and juveniles).
This Unit has a staff of 4.6 people, with an annual cost of about $588,000. The costs for the Collections Unit are paid for by the fines and fees collected from justice-involved adults and from parents of juveniles.
It hasn't always been this way:
Contra Costa's juvenile detention fees
are among the highest in-custody juvenile fees in the state of California.
Source: UC Berkeley Policy Advocacy Clinic
How much money does the County earn from all this?
Each time a child exits some element of Probation supervision
(the Hall, the Ranch, electronic monitoring),
the Probation Collections Unit calculates a bill
based on the number of days the child spent.
That bill is sent to parents as part of a collections letter,
along with an "Ability to Pay" form.
If parents complete and return that form,
the Collections Unit will create a new bill,
using a sliding scale, based on the family's
"net discretionary income."
Meredith Desautels, Rosenberg Fellow,
Racial Justice Staff Attorney
at Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights
Contra Costa is not the only county
that raised their juvenile fees during the recession.
In 2009, Alameda County raised its detention fees
from $10.11/ day to $25.29/day - a 250% increase.
Yet Alameda's rate is still 15% lower
than Contra Costa's $30 daily fee.
Contra Costa could continue
serving as a leader in justice reform
by becoming
one of the first counties in California
to eliminate juvenile fines and fees.
"Imposing this kind of debt on families
induces economic and familial instability,
which undermines the rehabilitative purpose of the juvenile justice system."
Alameda County Supervisors Carson and Valle
What does this mean for a typical justice-involved family in CoCo?
If a family has $800/month in discretionary income,
that's a total of $26.67/day to cover
medical care, emergencies, clothes, education, savings, entertainment...
A Probation charge of $8/day represents
30% of that family's total discretionary income.
Average total family income for African Americans
in Contra Costa is $50,516/year.**
Average total family income for Latinos
in Contra Costa is $57,855/year.**
**Source: American Community Survey 2010-2014
Budget and Policy Decisions Made by the Board of Supervisors
When the County dissolved the Office of Revenue Collections in 2010,
Probation fomed its own Collections Unit,
absorbing the positions, the existing staff, and the expenses associated with Collections.
The change increased Probation's staffing and budget,
and it also changed the source of funding:
As a result of this County change, the cost of the Collections Unit is no longer covered by General Fund - instead, the cost of the Collections Unit is covered by the revenues collected from justice-involved individuals and families.
In the same year, the County Supervisors also raised
the maximum daily rate charged to families of justice-involved children:
Today, right now,
the Alameda County
Board of Supervisors is voting
on making their moratorium permanent.
What's Next?
The Board of Supervisors will vote on the
recommended candidates on 7/12/16.
A Request for Proposals for the facilitator and data specialist will be issued this fall.
To address this problem, in Nov. 2014
a group of people in CoCo formed the
Racial Justice Coalition,
funded by The California Endowment.
The RJC called on the County Board of Supervisors
to establish a Racial Justice Task Force
to redress racial and ethnic disparities
in the local criminal justice system.
In April 2016, the Board of Supervisors
agreed to this request, and agreed to fund a professional facilitator and a data partner.
My name is....
Recommended Community Seats for
Racial Justice Task Force
Two people from East, one from Central, two from West
Daily Rates Approved by Board of Supervisors
At the "Hall": $30/day
(charges are supposed to be waived if the case is dismissed)
At the "Ranch": $30/day
Electronic monitoring (home detention): $17/day
Starting with these amounts,
the County then uses a sliding scale
to determine the actual amount due for each stay.
(We'll hear more about that in a minute.)
How does Probation calculate
a family's sliding scale?
Probation charges familes $1/day
for every $100 in monthly "net discretionary income."
Net discretionary income is any money left over
after paying rent/mortgage,
utilities, phone, food, car, and child care.
So, if a family has $400/month in net discretionary income,
Probation will charge $4/day or $120/month.
Delinquent accounts can be sent to the Franchise Tax Board
to intercept people's tax refunds or garnish their wages.
"We believe that the goals and objectives of our juvenile justice system are being made without the need for fees imposed on those individuals and families that can least afford to pay them."
Allen Nance, San Francisco County Chief Juvenile Probation Officer