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Help Desk Home > Santa Cruz County CA

Santa Cruz County CA, JDAI Model Site
Sharply reducing its detention population while concurrently experiencing a reduction in juvenile crime, Santa Cruz's detention reform efforts resulted in saving the county millions of dollars by avoiding the construction and staffing of a new detention facility. Since implementing JDAI, the juvenile hall population has been reduced by more than half, averaging more than 50 youth per day in 1996 and just 22 in 2005. In addition, juvenile felony arrests are down 48 percent, misdemeanor arrests down 43 percent. and arrests for serious violent offenses down by 46 percent. Santa Cruz used an objective screening process to only detain high risk offenders and developed alternative programs and procedures for low and medium risk youth. Santa Cruz developed meaningful partnerships with community based organizations to provide culturally responsive alternatives to detention, as well as programming from diversion to family preservation. The reduction of racial/ethnic disparities and disproportionate minority confinement has been an integral component of their detention reform work. As a result, Santa Cruz has significantly narrowed the gap between Latino youth representation in the general population and the detention population.

 

Santa Cruz County, California
Scott MacDonald, Chief Probation Officer
Fernando Giraldo, Juvenile Division Director
Santa Cruz Probation Department
P.O. Box 1812
3650 Graham Hill Road
Santa Cruz, CA 95061
(831) 454-3800
scott.macdonald@co.santa-cruz.ca.us
Probation Department of Santa Cruz County, California
JDAI Help Desk at the Pretrial Justice Institute, 927 15th Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202-638-3080 x312 Fax: 202-347-0493 E-mail: jdaihelpdesk@pretrial.org