NCJ Number
238977
Date Published
June 2012
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The California county of Santa Cruz is presented as a model for other California counties in reducing unnecessary incarceration while emphasizing due process and offender accountability.
Abstract
The effective policies and procedures of Santa Cruz County are particularly relevant in a State that recently passed legislation (AB 109) that intends to reduce State prison populations by diverting non-serious, non-violent offenders to community supervision. Santa Cruz County has been successful in fulfilling this mandate and addressing the challenges that stem from it. The county's Jail Alternatives Initiative (JAI) model anticipates the potential impacts of AB 109 by developing systemic interventions necessary for successful implementation of AB 109. JAI facilitates a continuous improvement process that is data-driven and can evolve and adapt over time. Ongoing multi-agency collaborations improve the system-wide data analysis process in initiating interventions in the local criminal justice system. During a time of mass incarceration at both the State and local levels, strong local leadership combined with data-driven interventions made Santa Cruz County a forerunner and model for implementing the mandates of AB 109. If California's other counties jailed their adult arrestees at the lower rate achieved by Santa Cruz County, approximately 43,000 inmates would be held in jails statewide instead of the current 74,000. This report presents detailed data for Santa Cruz County in the following areas: historical arrest, jail, probation, and crime trends; sentences and release processes; offenses, time served, and release; and drug offense trends. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 18 references