San Francisco Youth Commission
Youth Justice
Minutes
Monday, January 25, 2016
5:00-7:00 PM
City Hall, Room 345
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Members: Cecilia Galeano (Co-Chair), Jessica Calderon (Co-Chair), Grace Pating, Hatim Mansori

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 5:10 PM. Commissioner present: Grace Pating, Hatim Mansori, Jessica Calderon. There was quorum.

Staff present: Monica Guzman, Adele Failes-Carpenter

There was no public comment.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Pating, seconded by Commission Galeano, moved to approve the agenda. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. January 11, 2016
(Document A)

Commissioner Galeano, seconded by Commissioner Pating, moved to approve the minutes. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

4. Public Comment on Items not on Agenda (Discussion Only)

There was no public comment.

5. Presentations (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. Presentation on the Young Adult Court
Presenter: Katherine Weinstein Miller, Chief of Alternative Programs & Initiatives, Office of San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon
Katy Miller from the DA’s office presented to the committee. She gave background on the different alternative courts that San Francisco has. San Francisco has a drug court, a mental health court, veteran’s justice court and now a young adult court. It started in the summer of 2015, in August. Only other US city that has something similar is Omaha, Nebraska. The difference however is that in SF the court wanted to look at serious offences, because in the SF jails people are normally only held on serious offenses. In other cities alternative courts focus on non-serious offenses. In SF, 25% of incarcerated people are 18-25 year olds which is disproportionate from the number of 18-25 year olds in San Francisco. Approximately 75 young adults have been process in the young adult court and 50 are enrolled. About 1/3 to ½ are there on robbery cases and ½ to ¾ are in there for property crime and assault. They do not have any gang or gun cases at the moment.

When a young adult is enrolled in the young adult court, they are out in the community instead of being incarcerated. They must go to court on a regular basis, at first weekly, then less often. This typically last 12-18 months, but sometimes longer. The participants (the young adult court shies away from using the word “defendant”) have a case manager they meet with regularly. The young adult court program focusing on engagement and empowerment as well as incentives over sanctions. They also assist youth with job training, education, drug rehabilitation and housing.

Katy Miller also touched upon the “Make it Right” program for juvenile offenders in San Francisco. This is for felony offenses and instead of charging the youth they can do restorative justice with the victims. The young person makes a plan to see how to remedy the wrong. A nonprofit, Community Works, facilitates the meetings and other organizations work with the youth to develop their plan. It would be great to have a restorative justice program for young adults.

There was no public comment.

6. Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. Review and discuss police training priority

The youth commission reached out to the Youth Wellness Center and they will be attending the February 22nd meeting to discuss their ACES training to the SFPD.

B. Review updates on both TAY SF and HRC youth-police town halls

Commissioner Galeano gave updates on the Justice for Mario Woods Coalition meeting she attending and on the HRC youth-police town hall she attended.

C. Review updates from December student walkout

Commissioner Calderon is still in the process of contacting and meeting with the youth from the Dec walkout.

D. Review and discuss other committee priorities

Commissioner Calderon gave an update on her meeting with Samara Marion from the OCC. Top priorities for the youth commission are pushing for a de-escalation training for SFPD.

The youth justice commissioners would like to schedule meetings with:

- Informal meeting with Chief Suhr
- Police Commission President
- Formal meeting with Captain of the SFPD Academy

7. Executive Committee Report

There was none.

8. Staff Report

There was none.

9. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:11 PM.