BILL ANALYSIS
AB 407
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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2007
Counsel: Gabriel Caswell
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Jose Solorio, Chair
AB 407 (Swanson) - As Amended: April 16, 2007
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Los Angeles County Office of Education
and the Alameda County Office of Education to conduct a
three-year pilot project to provide integrated services to
selected wards from 15 to 18 years of age in selected juvenile
ranches, camps, and forestry camps. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes several findings and declarations related to juvenile
offenders.
a) States that cost savings and reduced recidivism will
result from investment in support services and job training
for post-release support services for juvenile offenders in
county custody. Specifies the particular estimated cost
savings.
b) States that additional cost savings related to crime
victims will be realized by providing services to juveniles
in custody.
c) States that appropriate post-release services will
increase wage productivity. Makes specific findings
related to wage productivity.
2)Allows the two participating county offices of education to
cooperate with their respective county probation departments
and other partners in the provision of specified services to a
minimum of 400 wards per county office.
3)Requires each participating county office of education to
provide or ensure provision of a standards-based vocational or
career technical education program, tutoring and literacy
support, educational and vocational counseling, prerelease
planning, mental health services, and up to one year of
post-release support services to selected wards.
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4)Requires each participating county office of education to
select between one and three juvenile ranches or camps as the
pilot sites based upon demonstrated ability to implement and
manage such a program and track outcomes.
5)Provides specific criteria to be considered in the selection
of participating wards.
6)Provides that the maximum state grant for this three-year
project shall not exceed $4.5 million, including costs for the
evaluation, and requires state funds supplement and not
supplant existing resources and be matched by the county
offices of education or program partners with $1 for each $5
allocated by the state.
7)Requires participating county offices of education to complete
a report that evaluates the effectiveness of the pilot program
including specified outcome measures, and requires the report
be submitted to the Legislature on or before June 30, 2012.
8)Provides for independent review by the Legislative Analysts
Office.
9)Repeals this bill as of January 1, 2013 unless a later enacted
statute deletes or extends that date.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Declares the purpose of the Department of Juvenile Programs
(DPJ) is to provide secure custody of wards and operate
housing facilities for youth offenders with programs designed
to promote community restoration, victim restoration, and
offender training and treatment rather than retributive
punishment. [Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) Section
1700.]
2)States legislative findings to provide comprehensive training,
treatment, and rehabilitative services to youthful offenders
under the jurisdiction of DJP, that are designed to promote
community restoration, accountability to victims and to
produce youth who become law-abiding and productive members of
society. [WIC Section 1710(2).]
3)Assigns Juvenile Parole Operations within the California
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Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) the
responsibility for monitoring and supervising the reentry into
society of youthful offenders under the jurisdiction of DJP,
and promoting the successful reintegration of youthful
offenders into society in order to reduce the rate of
recidivism, thereby increasing public safety. [WIC Section
1710(3).]
4)Allows probation departments to engage in activities designed
to prevent juvenile delinquency and provides that those
activities include rendering direct and indirect services to
any juvenile in the community.
5)Authorizes the establishment of juvenile ranches, camps or
forestry camps in order to provide appropriate facilities for
the housing of wards of the juvenile court in the counties of
their residence or in adjacent counties so that those wards
may be kept under direct supervision of the court.
6)States that release on parole is a conditional and
transitional legal period for all prisoners on release from
California prison after serving their sentence. (Penal Code
Section 3000.) Defines the purpose of the parole system is
reformatory in purpose. The objective of parole is to
mitigate the rigor of the prison system and to allow the
prisoner to reenter society by replacing continued
incarceration with conditional freedom controlled by the Board
of Parole Hearings (BPH) regulations. [Penal Code Section
3056; People v. Denne (1956) 141CalApp3d 499, 507.] Parole
provides a testing period for the reintegration of the
prisoner into society. [ In Re Carahes (1983) 144 Cal.App.3d
927, 931.]
7)Provides that any parolee, although no longer confined in
prison, must comply with extensive restrictions imposed on his
or her freedom. [ People v. Burgener (1986) 41 C3d 505, 531.]
8)Allows parole for both determinately sentenced prisoners who
have served their terms and have been released and
indeterminately sentenced prisoners serving sentences of life
with the possibility of parole who have been granted parole
and released. (Penal Code Section 3000.)
9)Administration of the parole system is shared by two separate
state agencies, BPH and CDCR.
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a) Grants sole authority over revocation and waiver of
parole to BPH. [Penal Code Section 3000(a), 3052, and
5077.]
b) Termination and early parole functions are shared
between BPH and CDCR. [Penal Code Section 3001(a).]
c) Empowers CDCR with jurisdiction to make rules and
regulations for administration of parole. (Penal Code
Section 5058.)
1)Provides re-entry programs in the city of East Palo Alto.
(Penal Code Section 3055.)
a) Mandates the CDCR, to the extent resources are available
or appropriated, establish a re-entry program in the city
of East Palo Alto. [Penal Code Section 3055(a).]
b) Provides guidelines for what the programs may include.
The re-entry programs may include, but are not limited to,
the following [Penal Code Section 3055(b)]:
i) Assessment of prerelease needs for inmates scheduled
for release to East Palo Alto on parole.
ii) Partner parole agents and local law enforcement for
supervision of parolees released to East Palo Alto.
iii) Develop re-entry plans identifying services needed
for the parolees.
iv) Partner community organizations and service
providers to provide support services to parolees,
including transitional housing, job training, job
placement, and substance abuse treatment.
c) Mandates maintenance of statistical information related
to the re-entry program, specifically the number of
parolees serviced and the rate of return to prison by
parolees serviced. The information shall be provided to
the Legislature upon request. [Penal Code Section
3055(b).]
d) Remains in effect until January 1, 2010.
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1)Requires CDCR to operate the Preventing Parolee Crime Program
with various components, including, at a minimum, residential
and nonresidential multi-service centers, literacy labs, drug
treatment networks, and job placement assistance for parolees.
(Penal Code Section 3068.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "We cannot
continue to neglect and ignore the problems of our youth.
This bill begins the process of investing in rehabilitation
efforts to make our children productive citizens and
taxpayers. We have an opportunity to prevent our youth from
becoming permanent residents of our state penal system at a
cost of $43,000 per year."
2)Background : According to the background provided, "In
California, between 85,000 and 90,000 children and youth are
in out-of-home placements in any given month (including foster
care). Approximately, 9,000 of these are incarcerated in
county probation department facilities, and an additional
4,000 are in facilities operated by CDCR's Division of
Juvenile Justice. Alameda and four other Counties have 300 to
400 and Los Angeles County has 5,000. The average reading
level of the incarcerated youth is at or below the fifth grade
level. They are two to three times more likely to require
special education and up to 50% will not graduate from high
school. About 20% are 'crossover kids' who move back and
forth between the juvenile courts and the foster system. If
they are taught to become economically self-sufficient after
release, the result would be a reduction in the State's costs
by them returning to the criminal justice system.
"Effective strategies are needed to prevent juvenile offenders
from re-offending and returning to the criminal justice
system. Such strategies will generate cost savings to the
State, businesses and potential crime victims.
"The purpose of this bill is to provide a three-year pilot
program of career and technical education, literacy support
and transition services to reduce recidivism among youth in
selected county-operated probation camps and similar
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facilities. This $4.5 million program will serve 400 youth at
selected sites and is designed to provide the legislature with
a model to make effective future investments in programs for
youth in detention and post-release programs. The pilot will
be administered by the Alameda and Los Angeles County Offices
of Education."
3)Proposed Amendments : Amendments orally accepted in the
Education Committee (and to be processed by this Committee in
the interest of meeting legislative deadlines) add a
requirement for the Legislative Analyst Office to conduct an
analysis of the report that the county offices are required to
submit to the Legislature.
4)Argument in Support : Sheila Jordan, Superintendent of the
Alameda County Office of Education , writes, "This bill will
provide education and transition services to reduce recidivism
among youth in selected county probation camps in Los Angeles
and Alameda Counties. This three-year pilot program will
decrease the human and social costs to victims and provide
significant financial savings for taxpayers by reducing the
number of young people who continue to commit crimes.
"The Probation Youth Success Act is based on research showing
that promoting economic self-sufficiency is the most effective
way to help guide our youth to maturity and out of
delinquency. It has the potential of changing lives and
provides a model to guide future legislative choices about
effective interventions for kids practicing risky behavior."
5)Argument in Opposition: According to the Chief Probation
Officers of California , "Probation departments are charged
with the responsibility of rehabilitation of the youth in the
juvenile justice system, which includes an educational
component. Chiefs work closely with our county counterparts
to fulfill our mandate. Operationally, it is not logical that
we remove a key part of the rehabilitation piece and place
that responsibility with the Office of Education without
consulting with probation.
"For example, many departments utilize vocational training in
our facilities. In Los Angeles probation has been working
with Los Angeles Trade Tech in offering a variety of programs
from culinary arts to diesel mechanics. This is a key point
when discussing educational plans that can be offered to youth
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who might not want to perform as well in a traditional
education setting. Probation departments develop programs
that contain several evidence based practices, only one of
which will be the educational component, yet they all must fit
together to achieve meaningful rehabilitation.
"Finally, this is about the minor and offering the minor the
best opportunity to successfully reintegrate into society and
become a productive member of our community. Probation is
charged with making the individual assessment of the minor,
determining what a minor's needs are, determining the risks,
building a proper strengths base approach to changing the
behavior. Education has a role to play, but the
responsibility lies with probation."
6)Related Legislation:
a) AB 77 (Lieber) requires the Secretary of CDCR to appoint
a working group to develop an action plan for reforming the
parole system. AB 77 appropriates $4.35 million for the
purpose of establishing a grant program in order for
counties to establish a multi-agency local action plan for
parolees. AB 77 is currently being held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
a) AB 161 (Bass) creates the Collaborative Opportunities
for Rehabilitation and Employment Act for the purpose of
establishing a competitive grant program to establish and
operate re-entry services for local jail inmates. AB 161
is pending hearing by the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
1)Prior Legislation : AB 2798 (Goldberg), of the 2005-06, would
have established a three-year pilot project in Los Angeles,
Alameda and Sacramento counties to provide comprehensive
integrated services to selected wards ages 15 to 18 in
juvenile ranches, camps and forestry camps. AB 2798 was held
on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Alameda County Office of Education
Berkeley Youth Alternatives
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California Teacher's Association
California Psychological Association
Catholic Charities of the East Bay
El Clasificado
It's Time For Kids
Leadership Excellence
Los Angeles County Education Foundation
Los Angeles County Office Of Education
Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union
Los Angeles County Trade Technical College
Maria's Italian Kitchen
School Innovations and Advocacy
Thunder Road Adolescent Treatment Centers, Inc.
Toberman Settlement House
Opposition
Chief Probation Officers of California
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744