Achieving Significant Reductions in Out-of-Home Placements and Racial Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System - Alameda County Probation

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2019

This nomination summary is being submitted on behalf of the Alameda County Probation Department (ACPD) for a 2019 NACo Achievement Award in the category of Criminal Justice and Public Safety for improving the administration of an existing county government program, filling gaps in the availability of services to under-served residents, and promoting intergovernmental cooperation and coordination in addressing shared problems. Juvenile justice systems across the country have seen drastic declines in youth who are placed in camps, out-of-home placements, and probation however, there are still too many youth sent to out-of-home placement and the racial/ethnic disparities of systems-impacted youth remain. In 2014, ACPD made a concerted effort to reduce the number of youth removed from the home through policy changes and best practices. ACPD hired Impact Justice to analyze trends in out-of-home placements over the last three years to see what impact reform efforts were having. The results were astoundingly positive. Not only did ACPD achieve huge reductions in the number of youth placed out-of-home (78%), it bucked national trends by substantially lowering the rates of black and Latino youth in these placements. This nomination is in recognition of ACPD’s success in reducing out-of-home placements and racial/ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system.