The results of juvenile realignment forced our state to think more creatively and compassionately about juvenile offenders.  As a result, according to this article, the youth prison population went down 88% in the last 10 years.  Hoping the same results happen through the jails realignment.  Submission Post by Charisse Domingo

Fewer youth in state detention after juvenile realignment

Published: January 9, 2012

By Callie Shanafelt, California Health Report

Michael Bryant has been in and out of Juvenile Hall in Santa Cruz since he was 13 years old, when he started drinking alcohol everyday. Now 17, Bryant is doing time in a treatment center after plea-bargaining on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Some counties would have viewed this crime as a second strike and sent Bryant to a state facility. But Santa Cruz rarely sends youth to the state for supervision. In part, that’s because the county is a participant in the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, a program of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Continue reading →