Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, began work Wednesday as full-time director of the criminal-justice panel, which aims to reduce the county's jail population, increase collaboration among law-enforcement agencies and improve treatment programs.

The four-term Democratic legislator leaves his post as operations director for the youth-mentoring initiative Colors of Success.

That background, according to his fellow Democrat and boss, Mayor Peter Corroon, could help the county expand its alternatives-to-incarceration programs.

The new director is married to Corroon's community-services boss, Erin Litvack, a relationship the mayor insists had nothing to do with his hiring.

"It was a very clean, fair process," Corroon said, adding that a committee of criminal-justice officials recommended David Litvack.

The position pays $83,200 a year, but Litvack likely will earn less because he'll take time off for his legislative duties.

He replaces former advisory council Director Camille Anthony at a time when criminal-justice issues - such as selling Oxbow Jail or adding prosecutors to the District Attorney's Office - loom large on the county's agenda.

The county set aside $680,000 this year to craft a criminal-justice master plan.

Litvack, who received a master's degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago, said he will work with the advisory council to create a "cohesive and comprehensive" criminal-justice strategy that will focus on treatment and rehabilitation programs outside of jail.

jstettler@sltrib.com