HomeMy WebLinkAboutJCPC minutes 101416Orange County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council Meeting
Friday, October 14, 2016 (12:00noon – 2:00pm)
Orange Works @ Hillsborough Commons
Hillsborough, NC
Proposed Minutes
Attendees: Meg McGurk, Peggy Hamlett, Bernard Miles, Sharron Hinton, Carol
McClelland, Arianna Hinton, Conrad Weiden, Nick Allen, Stephanie Jones, Kysha
Thompson, Kristi Price, Sherita Cobb, Lee Barnes, Celisa Lehew, Michelle Guarino, Val
Hanson, Tami Pfeifer, Georgia Gamcsik, Susan Worley, Gayanne Chambless, Amanda Farris,
Cait Fenhagen, James Turner, Kim Newsome, Elinor Landess, Kate Giduz, Chandrika Brown,
Darnell Simpson, Denise Briggs, Rebekah Rapoza (*Members in Bold)
Welcome
The meeting opened with a welcome from Chair, Meg McGurk and introductions.
Minutes Review and Approval
The Council reviewed the minutes from August. Peggy Hamlett motioned for minutes to be
approved and was seconded by Bernard Miles. Motion carried unanimously.
Agency Roundtable
Boomerang – Served 20 students in alternative to suspension program. An interesting fact is that
80% of the referrals have been females for fighting and they are currently serving more Orange
County Schools students. In after-school program they have served approximately 80 youth.
Just recently started parenting with EENP and they come twice a month with their dogs for
training in the afternoon.
Volunteers for Youth – Currently have served 30 youth in Community Service program. Just did
a large project a couple weekends ago with the Carrboro Police Department. This experience
also provided a positive interaction between law enforcement and youth.
Teen Court is always looking for new worksites, especially in the winter when a lot of the
outdoor sites close down for the winter.
Freedom House – Held 3 Common Sense Parenting courses and graduated 15 people and
currently serving 13 families. They have been actively sought out by several people within the
Orange County School system and will be doing a parent information session on Common Sense
Parenting at Gravelly Hill, one of which will be in Spanish.
Dispute Settlement Center – Restorative Justice Program just successfully closed 3 cases and
have 3 families for Family Table referred by Juvenile Court. The next Family Table session will
begin November 1 and is currently taking referrals.
DJJ Data – August: 5 distinct juveniles, 5 complaints, 2 approved for court, 3 put on plan or
contract, 0 school related offenses, 0 juveniles in detention, and 1 juvenile on electronic
monitoring for 27 days.
September: 2 distinct juveniles, 3 complaints, 1 approved for court, 1 put on a plan or contract, 0
school related offenses, 0 juveniles in detention, and 1 juvenile on electronic monitoring for 20
days.
Data was also presented for July-September quarter for 2015 and 2016 and numbers are down
significantly across the board. Data on full fiscal years for 2014 and 2015 also showed
significant decreases in juveniles at intake, complaints received, juveniles approved for court and
school related offenses. Numbers are down across the state as well.
The drop in school related offenses could possibly be attributed to the schools handling problems
internally and giving the option to the parent(s) to file a complaint if they want. The Chapel
Hill-Carrboro City School System have an MOU that guides principals but doesn’t bind officers
to making arrests or not making arrests. The schools are taking on more responsibility in non-
mandated referrals to law enforcement.
JCPC Business
Membership Update – Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School designee position is still open. Meg
will contact the Superintendent to ask about a replacement.
Welcome to Stephanie and Kysha, the two newest members on our board.
Conflict of Interest Forms – New members, and other members who haven’t completed one this
year, please do so at this meeting and turn in to Rebekah.
Subcommittee Sign-Ups – We have two committees that we need volunteers to serve on. Risk
and Needs Committee reviews the DJJ data for our county and will identify the risks and needs
of the youth in our community. This information will then help drive the RFP and program
funding for the next fiscal year. This committee is open to board members, program staff, and
other community members. The data isn’t always an accurate reflection of the risks and needs,
so it is important to have service providers involved who can provide a more realistic view of the
data.
The Monitoring Committee is responsible for going out in January and doing on-site monitoring
of the JCPC funded programs. They make sure that the programs are meeting program goals and
identifying if there are any problems or issues. This committee is for board members only.
Denise will provide a brief training on the monitoring guide. The guide hasn’t changed, but for
members who aren’t familiar with the form, it will help familiarize them. The training will be
held as a second part of the December JCPC meeting, for the last hour of the usual meeting.
Report on NCCD Conference – Bernard, Kristi, Sherita, and Sharron reported out on the
conference.
One of the biggest impacts for a few board members was the last presentation from a youth who
was impacted by the incarceration of her father and the normalization of it within her
community. She talked about the struggles around visitation and the privatization of prisons and
how they impact contact with incarcerated family member.
Another takeaway was the talk about structured decision-making across the country which seems
to be the newest trend. These new tools are great, but it doesn’t take away the need for
individualization.
Mr. Bell from the Casey Foundation talked about the role we are going to take, are we going to
sit back and react, or do we want to be proactive and create solutions to problems? We need to
not be afraid to speak up and advocate for what is in our clients best interest.
Prison Kids documentary provided a different perspective on the needs of kids, especially those
with behavioral and mental health issues.
The diversity of conference attendees and speakers was incredible. There were people there
from as far away as Iceland and New Zealand and it was interesting to hear about how their
criminal and juvenile justice systems are structured and operated.
Guest Speakers
Kim Newsome & James Turner, Oasis – Local mental health agency in Hillsborough that
provides mental health services for children and adolescents, outpatient therapy, psychological
testing, comprehensive clinical assessments, and substance abuse services.
Starting adolescent SAIOP groups this coming week and is open to young people to come as
they need. They provide screening services, comprehensive clinical assessments, and will meet
teens and families where they are. They like to have parent involvement and will offer Saturday
and evening sessions to accommodate their work schedules.
Cait Fenhagen & Kate Giduz, Misdemeanor Diversion Program – Started in April 2016 and was
modeled after the program in Durham. It is located within the Orange County Criminal Justice
Resource Center. The goal of MDP is to keep 16 and 17 year olds out of the criminal justice
system and avoid the collateral consequences of adult charges.
Currently the program serves 16 and 17 year olds but may consider moving the age up to 21 as
the program becomes more established. North Carolina is one of only two states that still
charges 16 and 17 year olds as adults despite recognition that this population are not adults and
that if they can be diverted on misdemeanor charges and avoid the adult criminal justice system
they can avoid the collateral consequences – future employment, housing, financial, etc. Even
charges that end up in dismissal, they don’t ever go away without time and money for
expungement.
Most of the major law enforcement agencies are on board and outreach is still being done with a
few of the smaller agencies (UNC Dept. of Public Safety, Park Police). The goal is to have
100% of eligible MDP cases into the program. Eligibility criteria include: 16 or 17 at time of the
offense; no prior charges in adult court (not even pending); youth with a juvenile record ARE
eligible; misdemeanor offenses only – no firearm offenses, sex offenses, traffic citations, or
undisciplined.
The MDP process begins by giving the 16 or 17 year old a card instructing them to contact Cait,
Program Administrator, within 72 hours; an incident report is completed, but not entered into any
public database; a referral form along with the incident report is submitted to the law
enforcement liaison; the liaison confirms that the referred is an eligible participant and sends the
information to Cait within 48 hours; Cait meets with the referred and does an intake interview;
they are placed on a 90-day diversion plan, which includes 10-15 hours of programming and a
mandatory educational court information session (educates them on the collateral consequences
of the adult criminal justice system).
If the youth is compliant with the requirements, Cait will contact the liaison and the officer who
originally referred the case and the case will be closed completely. If they are not compliant, the
liaison and referring officer has the decision to make on whether or not to file formal charges. It
is important to note that the officers have the ultimate discretion on whether to refer cases to
MDP or send to district court. Right now the program is trying to make sure that the officers
remember that they have the option of referring to MDP.
To date MDP has seen 22 referrals, more males than females, more white than African American
and Latino, 15 successful completions, and 2 referrals that had to be turned down for insufficient
evidence and a youth from out of the country. The program is trying to figure out an efficient
way to ensure there is no racial disparity. Charges that have come through the program include:
possession of marijuana, underage drinking, assault on public official, assault (fighting as
school), cyber-bullying, and larceny.
Consultant Update
JCPC Monitoring Committee will meet immediately after the December meeting for a brief
training.
The Area Consultants just received the data for Risk & Needs Committee. The RFP will be
drafted and presented at the February JCPC meeting. The meeting for the Risk & Needs
Committee will need to be rescheduled due to a conflict with another meeting that many of the
JCPC members and program providers attend. Rebekah will coordinate the rescheduling of this
meeting.
Announcements
Orange Works is a new facility that is an expansion of Social Services building and will be
expanding our employment and training services to all Orange County residents who are
unemployed or underemployed regardless of whether or not they are receiving services.
Programs currently offered are Building Futures Program (WIOA Youth) and Food and Nutrition
Employment and Training Grant. Other services provided include a computer lab, resource area,
café, free WiFi, space for businesses to come in and interview potential employees, a visiting
office, an outdoor patio, and veterans’ services. Will be expanding services in the future as we
get up and running.
Freedom House is actively recruiting for a variety of employment opportunities.
Next JCPC Meeting: Friday, December 2, 2016; Location: Southern Human Services
Center, 2501 Homestead Rd, Chapel Hill NC