Statewide change is also needed to support, incentivize, and institutionalize local work to end girls’ incarceration. We call on California legislators and policymakers to:

1. Support and champion legislation limiting the circumstances in which young people can be arrested, detained, or placed on formal court supervision.

• Detention should be an option only when public safety is a serious and immediate concern that cannot be mitigated by community-based supports.

• Formal probation supervision should be an option only when public safety is a serious and immediate concern.

• Technical violations of probation, including running away from home or court placements, should not result in detention.

• Eliminate custody as an option for misdemeanors, status offenses, low-level felonies, and probation violations. Doing so would immediately reduce girls’ incarceration by more than 50 percent.

2. Develop flexible funding streams to support proven community-based gender-responsive prevention, diversion, and intervention programming.

• Statewide funding streams aimed at supporting young people should prioritize local community-based diversion and prevention programming that operates in line with best practices of gender-responsive care. These funding streams should require that any local administration and/or oversight of these programs does not fall under government agencies with the power to detain or incarcerate young people.

• Additional statewide investment is needed to support and evaluate pilot programs aimed at holistic supports and healing—including economic supports, access to housing, education and school-based services, community-based mental health supports, alternative approaches to healing, and fun and engaging community-based programming—prioritizing those investments championed by directly impacted young people and their families.

• Funding must be flexible and broad enough to support young people before, during, and after any system involvement.

3. Incentivize and support local work to end girls’ incarceration.

• Include practice changes from this report and milestones associated with ending girls’ incarceration as eligibility requirements or incentives for statewide funding streams, particularly those related to justice interventions, diversion, and prevention.

• Issue statewide guidance and provide associated training for local court stakeholders (judges, district attorneys, probation officers, public defenders, and law enforcement) to adopt practice changes highlighted in this report. Guide stakeholders to understand how they can use their discretion and partner with community-based organizations to avoid the detention of girls and gender-expansive youth primarily due to:

  • concerns for the safety of the young person;

  • inability to locate parents, guardians, or counsel;

  • lack of support from parents, guardians, or counsel;

  • lack of stable housing;

  • truancy or lack of school attendance;

  • concerns regarding commercial sexual exploitation or sexual violence;

  • runaway behavior or other technical violations of probation;

  • a need to receive treatment or services, including substance use treatment; and

  • family conflict, including tensions between the young person and their parents, siblings, or guardians.