What is the Community Justice Center (CJC)? The San Francisco Community Justice Center (CJC) is a collaborative court1 of the Superior Court of San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco, created in partnership with the District Attorney’s Office, Department of Public Health, Human Services Agency, Adult Probation Department, the Defense Counsel and various other city agencies and community groups. Established in March 2009, the CJC uses the problem‐solving justice model to target high‐need, high‐risk, nonviolent offenders in the Tenderloin, South of Market, Union Square, and Civic Center neighborhoods. The CJC is the result of a truly collaborative planning process. The two year planning effort allowed community stakeholders, criminal justice, and city partners to explore the innovative practices of a community based criminal court model that offers social services to defendants, in an effort to curb criminal behavior and improve individual outcomes. Since its launch in 2009, the CJC, has grown to become San Francisco’s largest collaborative court. In 2010, the CJC heard over 2,500 misdemeanor and nonviolent felony cases associated with 1,975 defendants. This is more four times the volume of San Francisco’s second largest collaborative court, Drug Court. Through its application of collaborative court principles to a significant number of criminal cases, the CJC represents one of the largest reforms to the San Francisco criminal justice system in recent years. How Are Services Provided at the CJC? The CJC emphasizes the immediacy of service delivery as an essential means to engage a historically hard to serve population. This emphasis is realized through the co‐location of the Court and Service Center. Further, the CJC’s team approach facilitates efficient cross‐agency communication and problem‐solving. The CJC team is comprised of a Judge, the Program Coordinator, two deputy District Attorneys, contract defense counsel, two Adult Probation Officers, five Department of Public Health clinical staff, and two benefits workers from the Human Services Agency (handling shelter beds, food stamps and general assistance benefits). 1
Collaborative courts, also known as “problem‐solving” courts, promote defendant accountability by combining judicial supervision with rehabilitation services that are monitored by the court and focused on recovery. This practice emphasizes a coordinated effort among attorneys, law enforcement and community treatment and service agencies to address the complex social and behavioral health problems that have resulted in defendants cycling through the courts and jails. Judicial leadership plays a significant role in motivating compliance with treatment and is essential for ensuring positive relationships among the court and its partners. In the past 15 years, Collaborative Courts have emerged as an effective strategy to improve outcomes for victims, communities and defendants. Since its launch in March 2009, the CJC Service Center has served more than 1,500 San Franciscans. The Service Center's monthly caseload averages 250 to 300 clients. The average program length is four and a half months. Once a client has become stable in a community‐based treatment program, and demonstrated accountability in regards to the initial offense, the client is eligible for successful completion. In order to successfully complete, the client must have stable housing, be involved with some type of activity in the community (school, work, volunteer activities etc), and be connected to aftercare services with other community agencies. To date, more 350 participants have successfully completed the CJC program. What is Unique about the CJC? The CJC differs from other Collaborative Courts in several ways: it offers immediacy from arrest to contact with the court; social service referrals for substance abuse, mental health, and primary care are provided on‐site; and, dispositions include restorative justice projects that allow participants to give back to the community where the crime occurred. Services at the CJC Service Center are available for all San Francisco residents regardless of their criminal justice involvement. The CJC surveys participants at program entry and exit to further the goals of procedural justice. At program entry, roughly 90 percent of CJC participants feel that their case will be handled fairly at the CJC, and that the CJC judge and staff will treat them fairly. Over 60 percent of participants express a preference for the CJC over the Hall of Justice. At program exit, 90 to 100 percent of participants feel that through their participation at the CJC, they have become more productive, more law‐abiding, more careful about the choices they make, and more responsible for their actions. In an effort to facilitate proactive community involvement, the CJC has formed a Citizen Advisory Board, which encourages community members to participate in the evolution of the CJC and garner on‐going neighborhood support. The CJC Advisory Board is comprised of five community representatives as well as staff from the Mayor’s Office, the Board of Supervisors, the Superior Court, the Department of Public Health, the Human Services Agency, Sheriff, Police, Pre‐Trial Diversion, and the District Attorney’s office. Citizen involvement is special to the CJC and is not part of any other collaborative court program. Describe the Case Types at the CJC and the Numbers Served Since opening its doors in March 2009, the CJC Court has heard more than 4,800 cases associated with 3,400 defendants. As of December 2010, 20 percent of incoming cases were felonies, and 80 percent were misdemeanors. On average, each day, the CJC hears 68 cases, evenly split between felonies and misdemeanors. The vase majority (80‐90%) of CJC felony cases are drug related. The most common misdemeanor charge is petty theft, which represent 30 to 45 percent of misdemeanor cases. Describe Program Changes Since the CJC Opened Two Years Ago The CJC recently received federal funds to create an on‐site Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) to increase access to treatment for CJC clients with co‐occurring disorders (mental health and substance abuse). The IOP will provide comprehensive mental health and substance abuse assessment, strengths based case management, and treatment groups of up to 60 CJC clients, including those awaiting placement in residential treatment. The treatment approach will be flexible and tailored to the unique needs, goals, cultural perspectives, stages of treatment, and symptom severity of each client How Will the CJC Address Sustainability? Given the unified planning efforts of the Superior Court and City and County stakeholders, the Court is confident that the CJC will continue to merit support for its core programs. The CJC is dedicated to continually expanding and enhancing existing services while cultivating new revenue streams for program implementation. The CJC recently secured $975,000, from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMSHA), to expand intensive outpatient substance treatment over three years. In an effort to reduce the use of general fund dollars, the Department of Public Health looks for cost saving measures such as billing Medi‐Cal for services to individuals accessing treatment in San Francisco. By certifying substance abuse providers for mental health, Medi‐Cal enables the County to enhance its federal reimbursement for eligible mental health services and increase the pool of available resources to providers.