Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Report

Abstract

In 2000, the California State Legislature passed the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, which authorized funding for county juvenile-justice programs and designated the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) (formerly named the Board of Corrections) the administrator of funding. A 2001 California Senate bill extended the funding and changed the program's name to the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA). This effort was designed to provide a stable funding source to counties for juvenile programs that have been proven effective in curbing crime among juvenile probationers and young at-risk offenders. CSA is required to submit annual reports to the California State Legislature measuring the success of JJCPA. The RAND Corporation received funding from the Los Angeles County Probation Department to conduct the evaluation of the county's JJCPA programs, including analyzing data and reporting findings to CSA. This report summarizes the fiscal year (FY) 2007-2008 findings reported to CSA, as well as additional program information gathered by the Los Angeles County Probation Department, based on its oversight and monitoring of program implementation and outcomes. The report is a collaboration between RAND and the Los Angeles County Probation Department. This report should be of interest to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners interested in the effectiveness of intervention programs for at-risk youth and those involved in the juvenile-justice system. Appended are: (1) Providers of JJCPA Program Services; (2) Comparison Groups and Reference Periods for JJCPA Programs; (3) Probation's Ranking of the Big Six Outcome Measures; (4) Community-Based Organizations That Provided Services for JJCPA Programs in FY 2007-2008; (5) CSA-Mandated and Supplemental Outcomes for Individual JJCPA Programs, FY 2007-2008; (6) CSA-Mandated Outcomes, by Cluster; and (7) CSA-Mandated Outcomes, by Gender. (Contains 26 footnotes, 73 tables, and 19 figures.) [This report was prepared for the Los Angeles County Probation Department and was conducted under the auspices of the Safety and Justice Program within RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (ISE).]