LOS ANGELES, CA – Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion authored by Supervisor Sheila Keuhl establishing the Justice, Care, and Opportunities Department (JCOD) and the Department of Youth Development (DYD). This Board approved motion also establishes independent pretrial services under the new JCOD – a significant shift from the failed Probation led pretrial system that has driven LA County’s pretrial population to nearly 50% of the jail system. The creation of an independent pretrial services agency outside of the probation department is a demand that the community has been voicing for decades.
Noticeably absent from the motion was any funding commitment to support the establishment of the departments and the expansion of desperately needed services. The transformative potential of the JCOD and DYD will be more realized if the Board prioritizes funding these county departments in this year’s budget cycle. The community’s demands at Tuesday’s Board meeting were loud and clear—the Board must take swift action to allocate significant funding for JCOD and DYD and commit to closing Men’s Central Jail by March 2023.
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