Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: David J. Canepa, President, District 5
Don Horsley, Vice President, District 3
Subject: Adopt a resolution to establish a committee to examine youth facilities at the Youth Services Center and to provide recommendations creating a more receptive environment for youth at youth facilities.
RECOMMENDATION:
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Approve a resolution directing the County to establish a committee to examine youth facilities at Juvenile Hall and make recommendations for a more receptive environment at the Youth Services Center.
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BACKGROUND:
Youth involved in the juvenile justice system have experienced disproportionate amounts of childhood trauma in their lives before or during their involvement with the juvenile justice system, resulting in mental health and substance abuse issues. If left untreated, these issues may prevent them from leading healthy and productive lives into adulthood. Such youth are also more prone to re-offend, in increasingly severe ways. Youth in San Mateo County are detained at the San Mateo County Youth Services Center (YSC). Developing ways to create a less institutional setting for the youth at YSC will promote a more supporting environment to bolster the mental health and rehabilitative services provided to the youth at YSC.
DISCUSSION:
YSC was built in San Mateo in 2006 with a capacity to house 180 youth offenders and to provide a rehabilitative environment for juveniles, featuring modern educational, athletic and medical facilities, including institutional detention design features like metal furniture, concrete floors, and locked sleeping rooms.
An increased investment in community-based preventative measures, detention reform efforts by the San Mateo County Probation Department, increased community-based diversion opportunities, and decrease in juvenile crime have led to a decline of detained youth at YSC, bringing...
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