What do we need to know about the thousands of individuals that are released from our County jail each year before their trials?
Last November, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to retain the County’s Civil Detainer policy, which controls the cooperation between our local law enforcement agencies and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Some tried to make a public safety issue out of the arrestees who sparked interest from ICE. But those represent less than 4% of our total arrestees. As we work to keep the community safe, we need to widen the lens and examine the public safety impact of ALL of those booked at our jail.
That’s why this week the Board of Supervisors approved a new working group proposed by Supervisor Dave Cortese and me. This working group will include our top law enforcement officials (including the Sheriff and the DA), along with community groups engaged in civil rights, immigrations rights, community safety, domestic violence prevention and gang prevention.
Specifically the working group will:
- Review the effectiveness of the implementation of the TRUST Act in other California counties.
- Review the re-offense rates and severity of offenses of all persons released post-arrest, pre-conviction.
- Gather, analyze and review data related to the referral of all arrested persons to Pretrial Services.
- Review the frequency of judicial orders made for Pretrial review.
- Gather, analyze and review data related to the provision of bail options including the annual number of bail provisions, bail amounts, and circumstances under which bail is not provided as an option.
- Identify trends within the judicial system that have a substantive impact on the release of individuals who may pose a threat to the safety of the public. These should include, but not be limited to an analysis of domestic violence, split sentencing, and other relevant factors.
- Determine the potential impact of jail capacity on bail and release volume in Santa Clara County.
This information will help County decision makers find real solutions that are fact-based and geared toward making each of our neighborhoods safer. The task force is expected to be chosen within a month and start work as soon as possible.
Cindy Chavez represents District Two on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
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