Priority planning

CJAB provides an opportunity for strategic planning across many groups involved in criminal justice decision-making. The heart of the process is an annual retreat, where the Board chooses priorities for the upcoming year. These priorities are detailed in the graphic below. The first four priorities are continuations of earlier priorities. Trauma-Informed Care is a new priority.

Selection & Analysis of Priorities
Prior to the Retreat, CJAB members completed an electronic survey with questions about existing and proposed priorities, the membership and functioning of CJAB, and Board roles and activities. CJAB then examined existing and proposed priorities during the CJAB’s Annual Strategic Planning Retreat in April 2018. To this end, each current priority was reviewed at the retreat, and purposes, goals, and activities were revised where necessary. The consensus is that most of the priorities identified in 2017 (and earlier) are complex and broad in scope, and remain relevant.

Extended group discussion revealed that two existing priorities (trauma-informed care and evidence-based practices) and two proposed priorities (information sharing and the application of Stepping Up program principles) are better seen as overarching best practices or approaches to criminal justice activities. In other words, the CJAB supports priorities, programs, and policies that adhere to the principles of the principles and practices identified on page 1 of this Plan.

Specific priority projects were then refined. The three remaining existing priorities were held over from prior years, with new goals and action items identified as noted above. The juvenile crime prevention priority of prior years was broadened to include violent crime prevention across the board. Truancy was added as a priority, with a focus on judicial responses to truancy actions. Time limitations did not allow for the creation of committees to work on priority projects. A committee refresher will be conducted at the next regularly scheduled CJAB meeting instead.

CJAB Priority Committees

Reentry – This will no longer be a stand-alone priority. Reentry, along with other related but independent initiatives like Stepping Up and CARD* (Community Action for Recovery & Diversion) will now fall under the Pre-trial Services & Diversion priority. The CJAB will continue to support the Coalition and reentry in general through participation of its individual members.

Juvenile Violence Prevention – This priority is in need of realignment, primarily to recognize efforts under the Juvenile Violence Initiative (JVI) and to incorporate the existing CJAB priority of truancy here. CJAB recognizes that efforts to reduce truancy also reduce violent activities in juveniles. This priority also continues to recognize and support the Group Violence Initiative (GVI) in the City of York through law enforcement participation, community engagement, and connections to community resources.  All of these activities will help to prevent both juvenile violence and gun and gang violence (both prior foci of this priority).

Pre-Trial Services & Diversion – Diversion is added to the title of this priority to clarify its intent and scope. Support of (and collaboration with) independent initiatives like Stepping Up, CARD*, the Truancy Task Force, and the Reentry Coalition now fall under this priority as all have a role in diverting individuals from incarceration along sequential intercept points. It should also be noted that in the past several years, the Board has accomplished much within this priority area, including the on-boarding of the CIT position through Adult Probation, supporting duty arraignment, implementation of the County’s Cash Bail program, and working with 6-month DUI violations.

Wellness/Problem-Solving Courts – This long-standing priority will remain. Opportunities to be explored are: developing resources and partnerships to provide services for courts, the need for a detox center in York County Prison, and expanding the drug court population. CJAB members also acknowledge that, for work conducted under this priority especially, care must be taken to coordinate and align with activities initiated under CARD.

Data committee- this committee reviews data from external and internal sources in order to assist CJAB, identifying gaps and trends in the County, as well as in developing priorities for future work.