Executive Summary - November 2007

The only way to significantly reduce crime is to concentrate on juvenile justice. I believe we need a two-pronged approach to the epidemic of juvenile crime. We must incarcerate repeat and violent juvenile offenders and at the same time intervene at an early age with children at-risk of becoming criminals. My office has developed a comprehensive strategy to address juvenile crime based on this philosophy, which is working. In order to implement our program, I assigned eleven experienced attorneys to a comprehensive juvenile unit. It is my belief that assigning top attorneys to the juvenile division serves as a message to the entire community that we must make juvenile crime prevention a top priority.

My office has stepped outside the traditional role of prosecutors and become directly involved in intervention. Many of our efforts are school-based. I hired a career educator to coordinate programs with our schools. We created the State Attorney School Outreach Program in 1995 through which an Assistant State Attorney is assigned as a liaison to every middle school in Duval County. Members of my staff regularly speak to students, teachers, and parents throughout our judicial circuit about juvenile issues. In order to keep our children in school, we conduct truancy hearings at our office. When appropriate, we aggressively prosecute parents for not sending their children to school.

One of the most successful examples of working with our schools is our Program for At-Risk Students (PAS). PAS serves students throughout Jacksonville who have had serious discipline problems. The students attend juvenile delinquency hearings and discuss their behavior with juvenile judges. They also tour the local jail and interact with juveniles incarcerated as adults. The juvenile inmates stress avoiding criminal activity and staying in school. To date, over 5,500 at-risk juveniles have participated in PAS. A 1996 study by Dr. David Rasmussen, Professor of Economics and Director of Policy Sciences at Florida State University, concluded that PAS "may have averted as many as 1,500 property crimes," between 1993 and 1995. Based on Professor Rasmussen's findings, we can estimate that as many as 10,000 property crimes may have been averted since the inception of the program.

We are always searching for creative and effective vehicles to get the message across to young people that they should not choose a life of crime. One of these, is the use of victims of crime to explain to juveniles the dramatic effect crime has on peoples' lives. More than 65,000 students have participated in these presentations throughout Jacksonville. I believe victims can give at-risk youth a perspective on crime that can help save lives.

Every day victims' lives are destroyed by guns and violence. We must teach children at a young age that guns are not toys and violence is not the answer. I have successfully advocated for a gun safety program in all elementary schools. My office actively supports programs designed to promote peaceful resolutions of disputes among students. In an effort to support this principle, my staff trains students and teachers in peer mediation. Additionally, we have organized a program with a local hospital where juveniles charged with violent misdemeanors or weapon offenses speak with medical professionals and see first-hand the tragic and senseless results of violence. We have also implemented a program designed to assist youngsters who must cope with domestic violence in their homes. Since we started our juvenile crime initiative, the number of firearm related deaths of juveniles in our circuit has dropped significantly.

We must address the root causes of juvenile crime. This is most effectively accomplished outside of courtrooms. I strongly believe that an effective juvenile justice system must include a strong diversionary component. Last year my office diverted over 2,100 juveniles out of the courts into State Attorney programs. Our programs are designed to assess the needs of young offenders and through collaborative efforts, provide intensive supervision and counseling when necessary. We conduct special classes for female offenders placed in a State Attorney diversion program. "Focus on Females" is designed to address issues which directly affect girls and can lead them to crime.

National studies show that substance abuse is a major contributor to crime. In 1995, Duval County began a "Drug Court" for adults. In 1996, I successfully lobbied for the implementation of a second Drug Court in Duval County for juveniles. Our Juvenile Drug Court began in 1997 and was one of the first in the country in the juvenile system. Juveniles targeted for Drug Court are non-violent offenders, whose involvement with the juvenile justice system is due primarily to their substance abuse. Juveniles accepted into Drug Court are immediately enrolled in a multi-phased treatment program. The program includes frequent drug testing, education, counseling and regular status hearings before a judge. Juveniles who do not immediately succeed are not rejected from the program, rather they receive quick tailored sanctions designed to "encourage" success. In a further effort to encourage our youth to stay drug free, the State Attorney's Office, in cooperation with local merchants and the Jacksonville Jaguars, administers incentive programs to reward students for not using illegal drugs.

Efforts to prevent juvenile crime will not succeed if there are no consequences for juveniles who break the law. It is my firm belief that we should treat habitual and violent juvenile criminals like adults and jail them. When I took office, our City was faced with a twenty-seven percent increase in the number of juveniles arrested from 1990 to 1991. Since I took office, we have prosecuted over 2,700 juvenile cases in adult court. This aggressive prosecution has made a difference. Jacksonville experienced an approximate thirty percent decrease in juvenile arrests from 1993 to 1994. More recently, the number of juveniles arrested in Jacksonville declined by forty percent from 1997 to 2006! Dr. Rasmussen concluded in his evaluation of our juvenile justice innovations that over 7,200 robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts were prevented by incarcerating habitual juvenile offenders as adults during his study period of 1992-1995. Perhaps the best indicator of our success is the tremendous reduction in the number of juveniles we transfer to adult court. Despite my continuing commitment to prosecute appropriate juveniles as adults and tougher laws mandating adult prosecution in certain cases, the number of juvenile cases we transfer to adult court has decreased eighty percent since 1993!

I am cognizant of the valid objection that, generally, it is counterproductive to brand a juvenile with an adult conviction and expose a child to incarceration with adults. Most of the juveniles we prosecute as adults are sentenced to up to twelve months in the county jail. They are housed only with other juveniles, and the majority are not adjudicated as felons.

Simply warehousing juveniles in jail is not a long-term answer. Therefore, with the tremendous cooperation of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the Duval County School Board, the City of Jacksonville, and several social service agencies, we have developed the "Jailed Juvenile Program". Juveniles in the jail attend school in regular classes held in the facility. Many juveniles have graduated from high school or earned a GED as a result of school work completed in the jail. They also participate in living skills classes, leadership and self-esteem programs, and anger control training, as well as classes on domestic violence and family planning. If needed, they received treatment for substance abuse. In an effort to provide these young offenders with positive role models, they are paired with mentors who visit them in the jail. These volunteers, recruited by the State Attorney's Office, continue to provide support and guidance for the juveniles after they are released from jail and placed on probation.

Almost all juveniles sentenced as adults are placed on probation and supervised by specialized probation officers after they complete their jail sentences. My staff works with independent living programs to place juveniles who do not have a positive environment to return to when they leave the jail. While on probation, juveniles must continue their education, abide by a curfew, and where necessary, participate in counseling. If a juvenile owes restitution, he must seek employment to help pay back his victim(s). My office is involved in several efforts to help increase the employment opportunities for these youth.

The combination of early intervention for at-risk youth and swift, hard punishment for juvenile criminals is working in our community. I am especially pleased that the number of juveniles qualifying for adult prosecution has decreased tremendously. We have received international attention and acclaim for our programs. I welcome the opportunity to show others there are logical answers. We have shown that if we let common sense and not rhetoric guide the system, we can greatly reduce juvenile crime.

**************

The above is a summary of a much more detailed and comprehensive statement.  Click here to download a PDF file containing the entire Statement on Juvenile Justice  (250K - approximately 30 pages).

PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this software, click here for a FREE download of the software.