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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:02 am
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Results for juvenile justice systems (florida)
2 results foundAuthor: Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Blueprint Commission Title: Getting Smart About Juvenile Justice in Florida Summary: Florida’s juvenile justice system is blazing a new path. Since the Department of Juvenile Justice was established in 1994, the State and the Department have taken a “Get Tough” approach to juvenile crime. Today, while overall juvenile crime rates are down, policy makers, experts in juvenile crime, youth advocates and community leaders agree that Florida’s juvenile justice system lacks the capacity to provide the spectrum of services needed to significantly impact juvenile crime and public safety for the long term. It is time for Florida to “Get Smart” about juvenile justice. In July 2007, Governor Charlie Crist authorized creation of the Blueprint Commission as a time-limited workgroup charged with developing recommendations to reform Florida’s juvenile justice system. The Blueprint Commission’s 25 members traveled the state, holding public hearings and receiving testimony from a host of stakeholders – community leaders, law enforcement and court officers, representatives of the public school systems, health and mental health officials, parents, youth, advocates, national experts in juvenile justice and Department staff. They learned: Communities, which bear the burden of providing prevention services for at-risk youth, have limited capacity and resources with which to respond; Public school systems – themselves under stress – increasingly are using Zero Tolerance practices to send youth into the juvenile justice system rather than apply alternative methods of discipline; Even in the face of a decline in overall juvenile justice system referrals, the use of secure detention (jail-like setting) is increasing. Florida places youth in secure detention and in residential commitment at rates that exceed national norms; There is a growing proportion of girls in the juvenile justice system, which presents a host of health, mental health and programmatic challenges; There is a disproportionate number of minorities in the system – and the disproportion grows worse the deeper into the system you go; At all levels, across gender and race, the health and mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system are extraordinary, with two-thirds of youth, in some cases, having mental-health or substanceabuse issues; Through all of these challenges, the Department of Juvenile Justice is struggling to keep pace. Directcare staff is poorly equipped, compensation is low, and annual turnover ranges from 35% to 66%, depending on the employee category. The members of the Blueprint Commission, working with expert advisors, identified 52 recommendations for change, organized under seven guiding principles and 12 key goals that are designed to be implemented over multiple years. Though the recommendations are extensive and diverse, they can be summarized as follows: The State of Florida needs to invest in a continuum of services that can provide the right services at the right time in the least-restrictive environment, while continuing to provide serious sanctions for youth involved in serious and violent crime, where appropriate; Florida should invest in community-based programs that help keep kids out of trouble; Florida should develop alternative programs and interventions at the community level to prevent youth who do not pose a public safety or flight risk from placement in secure detention; For those youth who require commitment to residential facilities, Florida should provide facilities that are small, that provide good educational and skill-building programs, and that best prepare youth for return to their communities; Florida must provide gender-specific programming that effectively addresses the needs of girls in the juvenile justice system; And it must address the disproportionate presence of minorities in the system. Florida must provide adequate resources to meet the mental and physical health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system; Florida must invest in the human resources that provide direct care services to youth in the system and develop a more professional and stable workforce; And at every point, Florida should implement only those programs and strategies that are evidencebased, that have been demonstrated to be effective in protecting public safety while at the same time providing an optimum future for our youth. The Department of Juvenile Justice’s new Mission, Vision and Guiding Principles outline the Department’s commitment to be child-centered and family focused while, at the same time, reducing juvenile delinquency and improving public safety. The findings and recommendations of the Blueprint Commission are intended to guide and support the Department, and the State, along this new path. Details: Tallahassee: Blueprint Commission, 2008. 148p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 2, 2010 at: http://www.djj.state.fl.us/blueprint/documents/Report_of_the_Blueprint_Commision.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.djj.state.fl.us/blueprint/documents/Report_of_the_Blueprint_Commision.pdf Shelf Number: 120352 Keywords: Juvenile Justice ReformJuvenile Justice Systems (Florida)Juvenile Offenders |
Author: Florida TaxWatch Title: Florida Boys & Girls Clubs: An Analysis of Educational, Juvenile Justice, and Economic Outcomes Summary: The Florida Boys and Girls Clubs (FBGC) are local nonprofit organizations that offer a number of afterschool programs to help participants develop positive character traits, improve academic performance, and prevent delinquency. In order to evaluate the economic benefits of the FBGC, Florida TaxWatch compared club participants to demographically similar students. This study finds that: o The median achievement level in Reading FCAT attained by the FBGC group was 3, or "on grade level", as compared to a median achievement level of 2, or "limited success with grade-level content," attained by the comparison group; o When measuring both overall days absent and "chronic absenteeism," which is significantly correlated with grade retention and dropouts, the results were half as prevalent in the FBGC group; o FBGC had a higher percentage of grade promotion and a lower percentage of grade retention than their peers, and dropout rates were significantly lower for FBGC participants; - The total number of juvenile justice referrals for the FBGC group was 2.96 percent, as compared to 7.49 percent for the comparison group; and - More than half of referrals (58 percent) were first-time referrals for the FBGC group, compared to 40 percent for the comparison group. According to this analysis, the economic impact of participation in Boys and Girls Club programs ranges from a short-term taxpayer savings of more than $9,000 for each student that is not held back a grade, to an aggregate of nearly $29,080,000 in lifetime earnings for each 100 additional high school graduates. Taxpayers also realize a cost-avoidance of $5,000 per youth who is diverted from criminal activities, and about $45,012-$46,305 for each youth that is diverted from incarceration. Details: Tallahassee: Florida TaxWatch, 2013. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 20, 2014 at: http://floridataxwatch.org/resources/pdf/FBGCReportFINAL.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://floridataxwatch.org/resources/pdf/FBGCReportFINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 133743 Keywords: Afterschool ProgramsCost-Benefit AnalysisDelinquency PreventionJuvenile Justice Systems (Florida)Nonprofit Organizations |