Funds for CJPP, JCPC programs in danger

By Jason King
Assistant Communications Director

• Criminal Justice Partnership Program on the Web: www.doc.state.nc.us/dcc/CJPP/
• Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils on the Web: www.ncdjjdp.org/jcpc/jcpcs.html

State funding for local criminal and juvenile justice programs could be in jeopardy, members of the NCACC Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee heard during their Jan. 23 meeting in New Hanover County.

The Criminal Justice Partnership Program (CJPP) is a grant program that helps counties pursue less costly punishments for non-serious offenders. Counties must annually apply for implementation funding for their own individual programs, which are developed and monitored by local advisory boards that are appointed by county commissioners.

The programs are hugely beneficial to counties because they keep offenders out of county jails and they are designed by individual counties to meet their own needs. Because funds for the program were made non-recurring in the 2007-08 state budget, however, the General Assembly must pass a resolution that includes specific language to continue the program by June 30. If legislators do not take action, local programs are left without funding.

“It’s a great program that does not need to go away,” said Gates County Vice Chair David Brown.

Despite the success of county programs, state funding for CJPP has not been adjusted for inflation since 1995, putting a greater strain on proven, money-saving programs.

“The loss of this money would be devastating,” said Burke County Chair Wayne Abele, who co-chairs the steering committee with Martin County Vice Chair Ronnie Smith.

Statewide, between 10,000 and 11,000 offenders are shifted from prison to probation thanks to CJPP.

“I think these are really, really high numbers considering the amount of money coming into the counties,” said Durham County CJPP Director Gudrun Parmer. “To me, it’s amazing what some counties and programs have been able to do with their funding.”

One of the CJPP goals is recidivism reduction, and according to Parmer, more than 80 percent of 2005 program graduates were not rearrested in the following year.

“I think that’s very good considering these are high-risk – sometimes seasoned – offenders,” she said. “We believe it shows our program really works.”

Much like local Criminal Justice Partnership Programs, local Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils (JCPC) receive state funding to subsidize tailor-made programs and services. County commissioners appoint members to county councils, which are responsible for reviewing the needs of at-risk youths and available resources and overseeing programs created to address those needs.

Each year the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (DJJDP) allocates roughly $23 million in funding to counties for these programs, but because the money is not recurring in the 2007-08 state budget, local programs are losing quality managers to more secure job opportunities.

JCPC programs operate on the assumption that state money will be available July 1, but that has historically not been the case – predictably leading to turnover of quality staff, according to Drs. Martin Pharr and Claude Odom.

“In reality, we’re going to lose quality folks and it’s going to cost your county in terms of continuity,” said Odom, DJJDP’s eastern area administrator.

Pharr, the department’s director for clinical treatment services, said that lack of continuity among staff who work directly with troubled youths increases the risk that those youths will find trouble.

There were roughly 500 local programs across the state serving 24,348 youths in 2005-06. The number of youths served has increased by more than 50 percent since the 1999-2000 fiscal year despite a 4 percent decrease in the department’s budget.

Local programs receive funding through an RFP process at the county level. Individual program agreements define measureable objectives for the providers, ensuring accountability for funding. Counties match state funding at a 10 percent, 20 percent or 30 percent level, but according to early survey results by the DJJDP, more than 80 percent of local programs would cease to operate without state aid.

The committee met prior to the NACo Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee’s four-day winter retreat.