Sacramento, California, May 12, 2023 – The Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) continues to highlight the need for better support from the state to best ensure safety and minimize disruption to the teens and young adults being transferred to local counties in this historic and never been done before realignment.

“Probation Departments throughout California have continued to build on our history of successfully implementing policy change by using our expertise to be innovative and creative to address the monumental needs of this realignment despite barriers that are still in place and a lack of full support from the state,” said Karen Pank, CPOC executive director. “To truly commit to making this realignment a success, the state must provide the specialized supports counties need for an effective transition and not walk away at this critical juncture. Our mission is to help each youth leave the system and get onto a healthy pathway in our communities which is why we continue to ask the state to provide the right resources to support these high needs teens and young adults.” 

Background on Historic DJJ Realignmen:

• SB 823 was introduced as a last-minute gut-and-amend in 2020 that was then quickly adopted into law as it did not address the supports or resources needed to effectively fully transition the teens and young adults from state supervision back to the counties.
   
• CPOC opposed SB 823 for reasons we shared in a 2020 letter:  “Today, in the final hours of the Legislative Session, county governments and our probation departments are being required to accept a sensitive and vital responsibility – one that shapes the future paths of youth in our juvenile justice system – in a form that is unworkable, does not reflect county or probation input on critical aspects, and cannot assure delivery of improved outcomes for the young people we are being asked to serve. The State is attempting to reduce costs and transfer liability by shifting the remainder of the entire juvenile justice system responsibility to county governments without giving us the necessary authority and flexibility to respond to local conditions… The State cannot expect local practitioners to fulfill this responsibility without taking into account our needs and expertise – an expertise that counties have demonstrated successfully among the nearly 90 percent of the youth (all but those with most serious and complex treatment needs) currently being rehabilitated under counties’ care.”
   
• Since 2020, counties have not seen much change from the state with the continual lack of recognition that these youth and young adults have complex and serious treatment needs that require adequate funding and supports so no young person falls through any gaps and we can maintain a steady transition and environment.
   
• This is unlike any other realignment the state has ever attempted as the state essentially has taken the program they built over decades and then quickly closed it down. DJJ has been there because for this small cohort of young adults there were no local options for the specialized services and treatments they needed or sometimes placing them locally would create an unsafe environment for the youth at county juvenile facilities.
• Now, under the state’s plan, they are taking their centralized and specialized programming that they have operated for decades and instead decentralize it across counties throughout the state regardless of the staffing shortages, recruitment challenges, resources, programs or secure treatment facilities available in those counties.
   
• Past realignments were different. The adult realignment and the previous juvenile realignment did not send anyone at the state level back to the locals and they did not outright eliminate the system at the state level. In addition, the state partnered closely with those locally that had to implement the realignments and were in partnership throughout implementation. That is not the case in this situation. The state is closing its doors and they are sending the youth and young adults in their care to counties all over the state.

For more information or interviews, please contact Laura Dixon at laura@cpoc.org.

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