Pasadena Receives $1 Million Grant to Combat Recidivism

The Pasadena City Prosecutor’s Office has been awarded a $1 million federal grant to help combat recidivism, as officials note a high rate of re-offense in Los Angeles County, with a high concentration of offenders with violent criminal histories in Pasadena.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will be distributed over three years, according to a staff report prepared on the issue for the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, which is set to hear a presentation on the program during its Wednesday meeting.

“The project’s overall goal to strengthen the referral process from the courts and police to treatment organizations, particularly resources that are as close as possible to Pasadena, while also providing case management that will reduce recidivism,” according to the report.

Pasadena Chief Assistant City Prosecutor Michael Dowd said the program will be offered as an alternative to traditional prosecution for those arrested for misdemeanor crimes in Pasadena. Alleged felony offenses are prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

“[It’s] basically a diversion-type program, where we’re trying to get people to stop offending or re-offending,” Dowd said, “…which means that if, in fact, they successfully complete the program … and they, in fact, don’t re-offend, then their case basically gets dismissed at the end of all of this process.”

Most participants will likely take part in the program for about a year, although some may complete it sooner, Dowd said. “And during that time, we’ll see whether people re-offend or not, whether they take advantage of the programs that are being offered.”

The city will be partnering with the Flintridge Center to help administer the program.

“Flintridge Center’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty and violence through community planning, innovation and action,” Co-Executive Director Josh McCurry said. “Our programs intervene at multiple touchpoints along this cycle in support of justice-impacted community members. To this end, we partner with a wide network of stakeholders, including nonprofit partners and public agencies.”

At the city, county and state level, recidivism is a problem that requires a response, Dowd said.

“We do have a high recidivism rate here in L.A. County,” he said. “And that’s a significant problem and we need to have funding sources and we need to designate and distribute funds to try and stop this trend.”

“When you consider the fact that California is right now the only state that has a recidivism rate above 50 percent, that’s a problem,” Dowd said. “And we have a criminal justice system right now that is focusing on rehabilitation. If we’re going to focus on rehabilitation and lowering recidivism rates, we need to make sure we have the funding for those programs.

Over 65 percent of those released from California prisons return within three years, according to the staff report. About 73 percent of those re-offend within one year of release.

“The numbers are even worse for Los Angeles County,” the report states.

The Pasadena City Prosecutor’s Office was handling cases of more than 1,000 defendants with “violent criminal histories,” according to the report.  With a city population of under 150,000, “This indicates that the city is disproportionately affected by defendants with violent criminal histories.”

Dowd pointed out that since the City Prosecutor’s office only handles misdemeanor cases, the true number of violent offenders is likely far higher.

“If we were to add felonies in there, you’re probably going to see that number being eight or nine times that amount, which in a city the size of Pasadena is a huge number,” he said.

L.A. County’s six jails were at 145 percent capacity, with all facilities at beyond 100 percent capacity, according to the report. Of the county’s more than 16,000 inmates, half have violent criminal histories.

The new anti-recidivism program will attempt to reduce those statistics by helping provide resources to convicts that will help reduce the likelihood of re-offending, Dowd said.

“We know that recidivism can be caused by a number of factors, such as lack of job training, lack of education, lack of a home, things of that nature,” he said. “The treatment programs that we’re talking about are trying to alleviate those factors so that the person does not repeat offend, does not go back to a life of crime.”

McCurry said the program was in line with the Flintridge Center’s philosophy.

“We understand recidivism as a result of structurally limited opportunities for previously incarcerated individuals. Our approach is designed to mitigate the impacts of trauma on previously incarcerated individuals, and our programs provide access to opportunity through intensive case management, systems navigation, and workforce development,” he said.

Thousands of inmates have been released early at the state and local levels as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to McCurry.

“Many of these individuals have been released to the Los Angeles community and Flintridge Center continues to provide supportive services amid this changed landscape,” he said. “Most public agencies use data from within three years of release to measure recidivism so it is too early to make a comparative judgment on how the pandemic has impacted recidivism.”

The city was notified of the grant on Nov. 2, Dowd said. The funds had yet to be distributed.

Wednesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. and can be viewed online at pasadena.granicus.com/mediaplayer.php?camera_id=2&publish_id=9.

The meeting agenda is posted at cityofpasadena.net/commissions/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2020-11-18-Special-Public-Safety-Committee-Meeting-Agenda.pdf?v=1605459850569.

More information about the Flintridge Center can be found at flintridge.org.