SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. November 9, 2021 – A report released today by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) investigates California’s state-run youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). Following decades of violence and abuse, DJJ’s prison-like institutions will officially close in June 2023 through juvenile justice realignment. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the […]
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
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New Report: California Crime Rate Lowest Since 1969
A report released today by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice analyzes trends for eight Part I felonies included in the FBI’s index of crimes. The report finds that California’s overall crime rate fell by 6 percent in 2020 from the year prior, reaching its lowest level since the state began compiling these statistics more than 50 […]
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Report: Crime trends and violence worse in California’s Republican-voting counties than Democratic-voting counties
A report released yesterday by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice finds that, compared to the 35 California counties that voted Democratic in the 2020 presidential election, the state’s 23 Republican-voting counties have higher rates of violent crime, including homicides. For decades, Republican candidates and elected officials have demanded a “get-tough” approach to crime that […]
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Report Update: COVID-19 Cases Surging in CA Youth Prisons
SAN FRANCISCO, December 15, 2020 – Last month, CJCJ released a fact sheet finding that California’s state youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), has failed to respond sufficiently to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on youths’ safety. Within days of the fact sheet’s release, DJJ reported that another youth contracted COVID-19 — the first […]
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CJCJ Applauds Governor Newsom’s Proposal to Shutter the Division of Juvenile Justice
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18, 2020 – Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a plan to close the state’s youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). This announcement, released as part of California’s revised budget, proposes ending new youth admissions to DJJ beginning in January 2021 and ultimately closing all four state-run facilities. We strongly […]
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Spending on California’s Youth Correctional System Soars Amid Administrative Shifts
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. February 25, 2020 – A new fact sheet from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice finds that state spending on California’s dangerous and prison-like youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), is expected to soar amid plans to transfer it into the Health and Human Services Agency in July 2020. For the […]
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New Report: Pervasive Violence and Isolation at California’s Division of Juvenile Justice Endanger Youth
SAN FRANCISCO, February 19, 2019 – A new report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice provides a comprehensive review of conditions at the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ)—California’s state-run youth correctional system— and finds a return to its historically grievous conditions that isolate and traumatize youth. The report finds: Youth live in a climate of […]
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White Residents of Urban Sanctuary Counties Safer from Deadly Violence Than White Residents in Non-Sanctuary Counties
SAN FRANCISCO, December 12, 2017 – As the debate over U.S. immigration policy intensifies, sanctuary areas, which limit their assistance to federal immigration enforcement, have come under harsh criticism. In this new research report, CJCJ’s Senior Research Fellow, Mike Males, studies 68 large urban counties with various levels of ICE’s Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) compliance, […]
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New Report: Urban Crime Trends Remain Stable Through California’s Policy Reform Era (2010-2016)
Feb. 8, 2017 – A new fact sheet from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice finds that, despite the implementation of large-scale criminal justice reforms, California’s urban crime rates remained stable from 2010 through early 2016. The report uses recently released FBI crime data from the first six months of 2016 to compare rates […]