CJCC Launches Community Justice Forum Series

Press Release

The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) invites community members to quarterly Community Justice Forums. Please join us virtually for “A Closer Look at the  Front End of Charleston’s Criminal Justice System” on Tuesday, October 6, 2020 from 5:30pm to 6:30 pm. The event features what happens at a person’s entry into the local criminal justice system. Trends in diversion and deflection, arrests, jail use and bond setting will be shared. Additionally, presenters will discuss future steps for improving the front end of the local criminal justice system. 

Participants are encouraged to register at http://bit.ly/Chscjs. Local news anchor Brad Franko will moderate the event and panelists include:

• Stan Gragg, CJCC Chairman, Deputy Chief, Mount Pleasant Police Department
• Ellen Steinberg, CJCC Vice-Chairperson, Magistrate, Charleston County
• Kristy Danford, CJCC Project Director
• Dennis Puebla, Director of Special Operations, Charleston Dorchester Mental

The quarterly Community Justice Forums are one of 12 initiatives underway pursuant to the CJCC’s recently released strategic plan. Developed on the heels of the CJCC’s efforts in 2019 to engage and  involve over 1,200 members of the community in setting the plan’s course the plan will guide the CJCC’s  work over the next three years. Collectively, the strategic initiatives serve to engage the community in  improving the local criminal justice system and addressing inequities, strengthen jail diversions and  deflections from the criminal justice system, focus on fairness and reentry, and achieve advancements in case processing.

“It is important community members are involved in improving our criminal justice system. This impacts  all of us in one way or another,” stated Keith Smalls, CJCC community representative and founder of My  Community’s Keeper Mentor Group.

Each quarterly Community Justice Forum will focus on a different area of the system featuring CJCC  members and community representatives with subject matter expertise as well as participant questions  and answers. The next Community Justice Forum will be held Tuesday, January 5th at 5:30 pm.

About the CJCC 

The CJCC is a collaboration of elected and senior officials, law enforcement leaders, judicial and court leadership, behavioral health professionals, victim and legal advocates, and various community leaders  working in service of the Charleston community. The mission of the CJCC is to assist in making  sustainable, data-driven improvements to Charleston County’s criminal justice system and thereby  improve public safety and community well-being. The CJCC is currently funded by a Safety + Justice

Challenge grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. For more information, visit  cjcc.charlestoncounty.org.

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