Under the state's proposed
arrangement, the juvenile justice division would retain only offenders
convicted in juvenile court of 27 specific serious and violent crimes, such as
murder, rape or robbery. None of the less-serious offenders now being housed by
the state would be returned to their hometowns, although counties would have
the option of taking them back. The state would provide local probation departments with grants of
$117,000 per ward per year to keep them close to home. In addition, the
counties would get a waiver on the fees they're already paying the state,
and they would receive some education money under Proposition 98.The proposal
is to be contained in a trailer bill submitted to the Legislature to enact the
state budget, which is now overdue. If it is approved, the Division of Juvenile
Justice would stop accepting the lower-level offenders as of September.
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Governor Schwarzenegger has reached an agreement with
legislative budget writers on a plan that would stop sending less-serious and
nonviolent juvenile criminals to state institutions, beginning this year. If the full Legislature goes along with the plan, the decade-long
population decline at the Division of Juvenile Justice would continue, dropping
over the next two years from 2,600 currently to 1,500, according to the
agency's projections. Instead
of being housed in the state's eight juvenile facilities, less-serious juvenile
offenders would be retained at the local level.
Under the state's proposed
arrangement, the juvenile justice division would retain only offenders
convicted in juvenile court of 27 specific serious and violent crimes, such as
murder, rape or robbery. None of the less-serious offenders now being housed by
the state would be returned to their hometowns, although counties would have
the option of taking them back. The state would provide local probation departments with grants of
$117,000 per ward per year to keep them close to home. In addition, the
counties would get a waiver on the fees they're already paying the state,
and they would receive some education money under Proposition 98.The proposal
is to be contained in a trailer bill submitted to the Legislature to enact the
state budget, which is now overdue. If it is approved, the Division of Juvenile
Justice would stop accepting the lower-level offenders as of September.
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