Advancing Racial Equity at the Juvenile Probation Department

The Juvenile Probation Department is engaged in intensive processes to advance racial equity. The enduring racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system provide stark evidence of the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic racism that has underpinned San Francisco's public systems since their inception.

We are engaged in expansive collaborative planning and justice reinvestment efforts to improve support for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. We are also working internally across JPD’s diverse staff to promote meaningful culture and operational change. We are guided by the following goals.

Our racial equity goals

• Reimagine how the City addresses juvenile crime, from referral through reentry, in collaboration with the community and our system partners, emphasizing research and evidence-based practices, and sustainably addressing pervasive racial disparities throughout the system.
• Advance a Whole Family Engagement strategy that places racial equity at its center to ensure that all youth have equal access to successful outcomes, and that advances youth-and family-centered case plans and goal development, with the supports and resources necessary to help justice-involved youth thrive.
• Bolster equitable leadership development opportunities for staff throughout the Department, including but not limited to Black, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Indigenous staff, and implement change that meaningfully improves the workplace experience of those staff; enact our organizational belief of redemption and helping people to succeed.