Juvenile Justice reform efforts

The Public Defender Office’s Juvenile Division is an active member of a larger collaborative group aimed at reforming our local juvenile justice system. 

The County of Santa Clara Juvenile Justice Systems Collaborative (JJSC) is a community council focusing on collaboration among the Office of the County Executive, Juvenile Courts, Probation, District Attorney, the Public Defender, local governments, law enforcement, schools, and community-based service providers. The collaborative will be dedicated to preventing youth from penetrating the juvenile justice system, continuously improving processes within the system, and ensuring the deployment of evidence-based practices to more effectively rehabilitate youth.

The collaborative consists of the Race Equity in Justice Systems Workgroup (REJS) and the Race Equity through Prevention Workgroup (REP)