CLOSING SAN FRANCISCO’S JUVENILE HALL - AN ANALYSIS OF THE YOUTH POPULATION - December 2019 Research Report

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret

A 2019 research report analyzes San Francisco’s juvenile hall population to support planning for the facility’s closure and the transfer of remaining youth into community-led alternatives by the end of 2021. Using official records from 1990 through November 2019, it documents major declines in local detention and state confinement, links the trend primarily to fewer youth arrests, and examines changing demographic characteristics. It also highlights rising annual holding costs and describes offense patterns to guide effective alternative-detainment systems.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background

Population Analysis

Characteristics

Offenses

CLOSING SAN FRANCISCO’S JUVENILE HALL: AN ANALYSIS OF THE YOUTH POPULATION Daniel Macallair, M.P.A., Executive Director Mike Males, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow Maureen Washburn, Policy Analyst Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice December 2019 Research Report Introduction In June 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to close the city’s juvenile hall, setting in motion a planning process that will culminate in the transfer of all remaining youth out of the facility and into community-led alternatives by the end of 2021. This analysis is the first in a series by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) to assist in planning for the closure of the juvenile hall. CJCJ has conducted a comprehensive review of the juvenile hall population using official data gathered from more than 200 annual and monthly reports issued by the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department (SFJPD) from 1990 through November 2019, monthly tabulations compiled by the Board of State and Community Corrections and Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), and case tabulations by San Francisco’s Community Assessment and Referral Center (CARC). The detailed data provided by these official sources offer vital information on population trends within the city’s juvenile justice system and aid in developing an effective system of alternatives to detention. Background San Francisco youth are being detained in record low numbers (Figure 1). From a peak in 1996 of 193 youth held in either the juvenile hall or the city’s recently-shuttered Log Cabin Ranch, San Francisco now holds an average of just 37 youth (January-November 2019), a decline of 81 percent. The juvenile hall, which has 150 beds, is now 75 percent empty. This decline in local youth detention accompanies an even larger reduction in the number of youth confined in state-run DJJ correctional facilities, which fell from a peak of 108 in 1995 to just eight as of November 2019. Figure 1. San Francisco local youth detention and state confinement, 1990-2019 | 200
175
150
125
100
75
50
25
0 | 193

108

State CYA/DJJ facility
8
166
Local Juvenile Hall/Camp
81
37 | | --- | --- | | | 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 (Jan-Nov) | Source: BSCC, 2019; SFJPD, 2019 The decline in youth detention and confinement appears to be due primarily to a drop in youth arrests, which fell from a peak of 5,214 in 1993 to 3,069 in 2000 and to 847 in 2018 (DOJ, 2019). A smaller fraction is due to the decline in the San Francisco’s youth population, which fell from approximately 55,000 youth ages 10-17 in the early 1990s to 50,000 in 2000 and 49,000 in 2019 (SFJPD, 2019). HowePage 2 of 5ver, as populations in the juvenile hall declined in recent years, the city saw an increase in the share of youth who were detained after an arrest or referral to the SFJPD, the entity responsible for operating and staffing the juvenile hall. SFJPD has maintained high levels of spending on the juvenile hall despite steep declines in its population. As a result, the cost of holding a youth for one year in juvenile hall has risen by more than 130 percent in the last decade, from approximately $137,000 per youth in fiscal year 2009-10 to $316,000 per youth in fiscal year 2018-19 (San Francisco Office of the Mayor, 2019; SFJPD, 2019) .1 As rising costs and falling population trends have come to light, community leaders and youth advocates have galvanized support for the closure of the juvenile hall. Now, San Francisco is poised to reinvest millions of dollars into local alternatives, such as diversion programs, community-based services, or small, temporary shelters for youth. Planning for this reinvestment of city resources requires a clear understanding of the youth population that will need tobe served following the closure of the juvenile hall. Population Analysis Characteristics As of November 30, 2019, SFJPD reports a population of 40 youth

FAQs

What process is set in motion regarding San Francisco’s juvenile hall closure?

In June 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to close the juvenile hall, launching a planning process to transfer remaining youth to community-led alternatives by the end of 2021.

What data sources does the report use to analyze the juvenile hall population?

The report draws on official reports from the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department (1990 through November 2019), monthly tabulations from the Board of State and Community Corrections and Division of Juvenile Justice, and case tabulations from San Francisco’s Community Assessment and Referral Center.

Why has youth detention declined and what factor is emphasized in the report?

The decline is primarily attributed to a drop in youth arrests, with arrests falling from a peak in the early 1990s to much lower levels by 2018; the report also notes a smaller contribution from the decline in the youth population itself.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret