SB 357 would make a broken juvenile justice system worse

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OPINION – L.A. County’s juvenile justice system is in crisis. For years, the Supervisors have refused to confront the very failures they created – chronic understaffing, politicized management, and a total collapse of operational accountability. With the system buckling under its own weight, Attorney General Rob Bonta has taken the historically unprecedented step of asking the courts to place the juvenile division into receivership.

The conditions inside the County’s juvenile facilities are the result of deliberate, long-term policy choices that gutted staffing, diverted funding, and undermined the workforce tasked with protecting and rehabilitating youth. The AG stepped in not because probation officers failed – but because County leadership did.

Instead of taking responsibility, County officials are doubling down on the same failed thinking that got us here. That includes support for SB 357 (Menjivar) — a bill they call reform but is, in reality, a Trojan horse for outsourcing union jobs, weakening public oversight, and stripping due process from dedicated public servants.

SB 357 is not reform. it’s retaliation
SB 357 would hand over control of juvenile facilities to the Department of Youth Development (DYD), a new agency with no legal authority to detain youth, no track record of operating secure facilities, and no capacity to replace the sworn professionals who currently do this work.

DYD relies on staffing agencies like Apple One to place temps inside juvenile halls, one of whom was recently detained for trying to bring in a concealed weapon. Just weeks earlier, another temp was arrested for smuggling in narcotics. A new lawsuit also accuses a Mental Health employee of sexually assaulting a youth in custody. These aren’t isolated incidents – they’re the result of handing public safety over to civilians with no proper oversight.

SB 357 isn’t about youth. It’s about union busting.

Supervisor Lindsey Horvath has blamed the crisis on “employment agreements and civil service procedures.” This is false, offensive – revealing.

Union contracts and civil services rules don’t protect misconduct. They ensure accountability, due process, and lawful discipline. If discipline didn’t happen, it’s because management didn’t do its job. If staffing collapsed, it’s because County leadership imposed hiring freezes, ignored frontline warnings, and rejected union-led solutions.

Let’s be honest. SB 357 is not about fixing the system – it’s about removing the people who know how it works so political leadership can dismantle our unions.

Receivership should mark a turning point
Attorney General Bonta’s call for receivership is a second chance. For years, we have proposed real solutions: expanded hiring pipelines, emergency pay for frontliners, trauma-informed training, and reinvestment in safe, rehabilitative juvenile facilities. And we’ve fought for state funds to upgrade the dilapidated youth facilities for everyone: the youth, community service providers, and our members.

Those proposals were rejected by the Supervisors and now County leaders want to use SB 357 to permanently sideline the trained professionals who keep youth, staff, and treatment providers safe.

The real problem: collapse of the hiring pipeline
SB 357 also distracts from the single greatest operational challenge facing LA County Probation: staffing.

According to the department’s own data:

• The vacancy rate for sworn officers is now 36% – triple the national average.
• Nearly 70% of new hires in 2024 and 2025 quit within a year of graduating the academy.
• Of nearly 20,000 applicants, only 123 were hired.
• A $24,000 lateral hiring bonus generated zero takers.
• Even $17,000 in incentive pay wasn’t enough to stabilize retention.

No amount of rebranding or restructuring will fix this crisis if the core workforce is unsupported, unsafe, and burned out.

Let’s fix what’s broken – not replace it with something worse
We call on Governor Gavin Newsom to intervene where the Assembly Public Safety Committee, which approved SB 357 despite opposition from everyone but L.A. County, failed. The Governor must:

• Reconstitute the Probation Services Task Force to craft modern, evidence-based reforms that center safety, rehabilitation, and workforce stability.
• Protect civil service and union rights by opposing legislative workarounds that aim to replace public servants with political appointees and private operators.
• Support the receivership process in a way that focuses on root causes – staffing, morale, training, infrastructure – not political scapegoats.

This crisis was caused by bad leadership – not bad workers. If SB 357 moves forward, it will lock in those failures and push the system past the point of recovery. Receivership must not be used to rubber-stamp a political agenda. It must be used to fix what matters.

Let’s build the system youth deserve – one based on public accountability, professional standards, and real safety for everyone involved.

Stacy Ford is President of the LA County Deputy Probation Officers Union. Reggie Torres is President of the LA County Supervising Deputy Probation Officers Union. Katheryn Beigh is the President of the Professional Managers Association.