San Diego
At a glance, San Diego County’s new $130 million Youth Transition Campus looks like a school campus, with clusters of one-story buildings, angled roofs and an open layout waiting for grass and trees.
A closer look reveals familiar features for juvenile detention centers, such as the institutional-grade locking doors on sleeping quarters and a 27-foot-high sound wall and fence around the property.
But there are no iron bars. No razor wire, like at San Diego County’s current juvenile hall in Kearny Mesa.
That’s because this campus was designed to reconcile the original requirement to detain young people in custody with the need to rehabilitate them before they return to society.
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We want to look at new skills sets, training and take a holistic approach to what we re doing, he added.
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer called the conference informative and helpful. There s no question we have a crisis in our justice system, she said. We have an opportunity to address the root causes of that crisis.
Fletcher and other supervisors have highlighted criminal justice as part of a package of major reforms, known as Framework for The Future.
Scott Huizar, deputy chief at the county Probation Department, told supervisors on Tuesday that juvenile arrest rates have significantly declined, 79% over a 10-year period.