March 15, 2017 Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission

Audience

Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission Members and Staff. The public is welcome to attend.

Date/Time

March 15, 2017, 9:00am to 1:00pm

Location

  • 401 S Clinton
    1st Floor 
    Chicago, IL
  • 823 E Monroe
    Springfield, IL
  • Call In: 888-4944032
    Code: 5329547331#

Agenda

  1. Call to Order
  2. Roll Call
  3. Approval of Minutes
  4. Fiscal Update
    1. FY17 Contracts/Fiscal Updates
    2. OJJDP Compliance Review/Plan
    3. GATA/NOFO Plan and Process
  5. Committee Updates & Motions
    1. DMC/RED
    2. Executive Committee
    3. JDAI/Compliance Update
    4. Planning & Grants
    5. Youth Advisory Board
  6. IBARJ Presentation
  7. FACJJ Survey
  8. Project Updates
  9. Notable Legislation
  10. New Business
  11. Public Comment
  12. Next Meeting
    May 17, 2017
  13. Adjournment

Minutes

  1. Call to Order
    Meeting was called to order at 9:20am.
  2. Roll Call
    Chairman George Timberlake and Vice Chairperson Lisa Jacobs. Commissioners: Rodney Ahitow, Julie Biehl, Jacqueline Bullard, Shelley Davis, Veronica Dixon, Esther Franco-Payne, George Hill, Arnetra Jackson, Patrick Nelson, Angela Rudolph, Mary Reynolds, Ben Roe, Rick Velasquez. Quorum present. Staff: Karima Douglas, Julie Stremlau, Wendy Nussbaum and Ron Smith. Guests: Susan Witkin, Mandy McMillen, Lily Gleicher, Naomi Tajchman-Kaplan, Vanessa Westley.
  3. Approval of Minutes
    Commissioner Rudolph motioned to approve the minutes. Commissioner Davis seconded the motion. All in favor, minutes approved.
  4. Fiscal Update
    1. FY17 Contracts Update and Budget Discussion
    2. GATA Plan and Process
      IJJC Executive Director, Wendy Nussbaum, explained the NOFO process to the group. She discussed deadlines of applications, posting, review and contracts. Chairman Timberlake recommends the Planning and Grants Committee make the final determination on the NOFO content.
  5. Committee Updates & Motions
    1. DMC/RED
      DMC Chairperson Franco-Payne gave the DMC Committee update. The DMC Committee is working to meet its goals regarding best practices for school resource officers especially as it relates to the roles of CPS and CPD. This is a public awareness effort. The Committee has been primarily working with staff attorney, Michelle Mbekeani-Wiley at the Shriver Center on her report and recommendations on school resource officers. The recommendations center on improved training requirements, data transparency and a pivot away from arrests to strength-based discipline. Lisa Jacobs also referenced work at Loyola that is developing trainings around school policing. The Illinois State Principal's Association has highlighted a trend of principals acting as "quasi-police" interrogating students in such a way that could lead to criminal charges. Chairman Timberlake also suggested that the Committee reach out to the PBIS network for recommendations in this area.
    2. Executive Committee
      Chairman Timberlake noted the recent Executive Committee meeting held in January. The Committee discussed current contracts and overall process. The group discussed the current Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) The desired deliverables, standards, etc. for the 2017-2018 contract process. The Executive Committee recommended the Planning and Grants Committee oversee the application review process.
    3. JDAI/Compliance Update
      JDAI Chairperson Velasquez gave the update. The JDAI committee has been developing a broader statewide strategy and is working to put together a collaboration of entities to promote JDAI principles. In November, members of the committee contacted JDAI sites to see if they were adopting and using JDAI principles. The goal was to move toward developing MOUs with sites; however after the initial phone calls, the committee did not feel that strategy would be effective. They have now identified four new strategies:
      1. Crunching the Numbers--Utilize our juvenile detention data and calculate the costs savings to the state of the reduced reliance on detention. These figures could make a greater impact on stakeholders.
      2. Marketing to the Executive Branch--Concentrate on education and communication to the executive branch and focus on county board members. Emphasize that the state is moving in the right direction and can continue that trajectory.
      3. Expands Efforts to the Legislature--Pursue a policy resolution in efforts to adopt and implement a statewide standardized risk assessment. Consider the possibility of collaborating with an advocacy organization like the Juvenile Justice Initiative to commission a study that promulgates the benefits of a statewide risk assessment and offers recommendations to the General Assembly.
      4. Outreach to the Judiciary-Develop a communications strategy on the value of and need to incorporate juvenile detention best practices within the judicial branch. One starting point would include presenting juvenile detention and commitment data to members of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Leadership Council.
        Commissioner Biehl mentioned some partners may be interested in the JDAI movement. AOIC does some of what we are referencing but not enough from the comments we received. Susan Witkin has been asked to participate on the Leadership Council Panel on January 24 to discuss the data in the detention report. Commissioner Velasquez talked about the Summit he attended and the parole officers talking about working and processing youth. Confinement is an issue. There needs to be a process for youth in centers being held too long, condition of care and lockouts. Ron Smith, Compliance Monitor added that the standards have not been updated since 1988. Karima and Lily asked to assist. They will join with the Redeploy workgroup and start a list of the issues.
        Commissioner Hill asked if the Commission should focus on conditions of confinement rather than just focusing on reducing the numbers of youth entering detention. Many in attendance expressed that the Commission should focus on both issues especially because there is not enough attention paid to monitoring for conditions inside detention facilities. Several separate entities (DJJ, DOC, AOIC, ICOY, CPRD) monitor various aspects of detention but there is no single entity who examines all of the above. It was decided that the Commission would gather information about each entity's roles and responsibilities for monitoring in order to create a report and make recommendations. The JDAI committee will include these efforts around conditions of confinement as an additional strategy.
    4. Planning & Grants
      The Executive Committee update covered the NOFO process and moving forward. The Planning and Grants Committee will be reviewing applications. The group also covered spending JABG, ICJIA, JJC, System Improvement and Training and Technical Assistance. Diversion, TA, JJ Councils new and existing funded and how we get them to show their practices, how they used their programming and to share their data mapping systems. The group discussed the current funding amounts and how the awards keep decreasing. The group discussed accountability of agencies we fund and the use of best practices. The final recommendation to have the Planning and Grants committee review and vote on the NOFOs. The Commission anticipates producing three separate NOFOs; system improvements, training and technical assistance and juvenile justice councils (existing and non-existing). Commissioner Velasquez motioned to approve the Planning and Grants Committee review and vote. Commission Jackson seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion passed.
    5. Youth Advisory Board
      No update noted.
    6. New Business
      Susan Witkin explained aspects of the Detention Report. The JMIS description has not changed. Ethnicity may be changed by whoever is reporting the data. She noted that something has been changing as there is a decrease noted. Admissions went down but what we see is that there are fewer admissions but they are being held longer. The average lengths of stay remained the same. Lisa will host a meeting at Loyola for anyone interested in taking a closer look at the detention data report. The Commission will encourage JJ Councils to use this report to examine data on the county level and to compare their data profile with previous years and to other counties.
  6. Transfer report
    Data collection tools across the state on juvenile transfers. 14 counties submitted so far; twelve counties had zero transfers, one county had three transfers; and one county had one transfer. Counties have been cooperative thus far about sharing their data in accordance with the format and layout provided by Susan Witkin. Susan will be sharing the data in a report once all counties have submitted. Commissioner Hill suggested the AOIC should mandate this data collection; however it is not clear if the AOIC can do that.
  7. Notable Legislation
    Commissioner Jacobs stated that the Sex offender Task Force is meeting on Jan 23rd from 1 pm- 5 pm.
  8. Public Comment
    None noted. 
  9. Next Meeting
    May 17, 2017
  10. Adjournment
    Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Biehl, seconded by Commissioner Franco-Payne. Meeting adjourned at 12:21pm.