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Change for Florida’s Criminal Justice system In response to your request for administrative and budgetary direction to address the issue of violent crime in the State of Florida, I would propose for your consideration two areas where concentrated efforts might be directed that I believe will result in long-term gains. The first is a restructuring of the criminal court system and the second addresses the educational needs of our children. Tremendous sums of money are being spent in both areas. However with a little restructuring and limited additional funding, both can become more efficient and directly impact violent crime in Florida. Florida’s court system is ripe for reorganization. The legislature is currently addressing the recently passed constitutional amendment that requires the state to fund and operate all courts throughout the state. That amendment must become operational by July 1, 2004. This presents the state with the opportunity to make the courts more efficient and to address the disparity the current court structure allows throughout the 20 circuits that currently operate under five appellate districts. As recent studies have shown, different locations within the state prosecute different crimes; many that have only a local following. Additionally, sentencing varies from circuit to circuit. Not only can duplication of staff be eliminated, but also a more consistent policy of prosecuting serious violent crimes could be implemented. Policies as to non-victim, non-violent and juvenile crime would become uniform. Sentencing would become more consistent and as the system became more efficient, defendants would be prosecuted faster. I would also suggest that a realignment of public attorneys, both prosecution and defense be considered. Setting aside the disparity in pay, studies show that young prosecutors are under-trained for the amount of power they assert and young defense attorney’s lack the necessary skills to provide competent representation. Both sides are overloaded with cases. Additionally, there are a large number of studies addressing how courts reach their decisions. What has been learned is that the courtroom is actually a work group with all the dynamics of work groups in about any occupation. There is a familiarity among its members who work in harmony to complete their task. That task is to process defendants through the system with little regard for the defendant. Instead, what really occurs is public policy for all the other criminal justice agencies is being established. What aspects of the law will prevail in a particular court, what role the police, prosecution and defense play and what sentence will be given to a particular defendant for a particular crime are just a few of the issues that originate and differ one courtroom to the next. In this regard I would propose that the state court’s reorganize in line with the current Federal System. This would call for all courts in the state working under one of three districts. The courts would still be three tiered, but jurisdiction would be realigned. All misdemeanors, non-victim and juvenile crimes would be handled at the lowest tier. All crimes against person regardless whether adult or juvenile would be the second tier. The appellate court would be the third tier and the court of review for the lower two courts. The Florida Supreme Court would be the court of last review. I suggest that all public attorneys work for the same office. This would include prosecution, defense and appellate attorneys. I know this goes against your view that death penalty cases should not be defended at public expense. However, the time process of appeal and the cost for such appeals would be greatly reduced by the consistent handling of one office. All attorneys would be on the same pay scale and would be required to rotate from one division to another through prosecution, defense and appeal for both sides for the first five years of their service before they would be allowed to specialize in the area they wished. This is similar to the United States Military Courts of Justice. It allows for a broader experience base, better training and different vantage points of observation as to how the criminal justice system works. It enables the attorney to discover how the criminal justice system impacts upon people’s lives from all angles. My last suggestion for restructuring the court system concerns diversionary programs. The courts should monitor all diversionary programs. This includes both juvenile and adult programs such as youth mediation, teen court, pretrial restitution programs, sex offender programs, citizen dispute programs, and alcohol and drug courts. This will afford the courts a closer hands-on for those defendants that may have a chance of not becoming repeat offenders. It will also lead to better documentation and more accurate reporting as to what has been offered to the defendant, what has worked and what has failed. As you are well aware with your recent experience with your daughter, diversion programs are very important. Funding needs to be concentrated under one agency for better application and uniformity. These proposals are controversial. They definitely impact a number of local politicians and curtail the broad distribution of public funds that may be political favors. However this is your last term and you will not replace your brother as President, who hopefully is in his last days of office. The court system needs to play a role in making the criminal justice system uniform and efficient. My second suggestion concerns the education system for children. The education system is the most public and visible institution for dealing with our children. Children have to go to school where they are a captive audience. At the same time as giving them an education, we have the opportunity to monitor and correct health problems, to include mental and physical disabilities. We have the opportunity to protect them from unsafe and threatening environments. Schools have the opportunity to expose our children to the law and law enforcement. Our school system now employs law enforcement for protection in our schools. What we should be doing is teaching children what laws are and how they affect them. Children should also be allowed to develop in accordance with their abilities and their desires for the future. Not all children are college bound for a number of reasons. The education system should not only recognize there are those that want vocational as opposed to academic training, but provide schools strictly for that purpose. My specific suggestions would include that law be a required course just as life studies, physical education, history, language, science and math. These courses should be taught by law enforcement officers and other criminal justice employees in the high schools and should be at least two years in duration. Children need to know the laws that apply to them. They also need to know what rights they have and don’t have as a child. I would also ask that consideration be given to developing specialty schools for the wide assortment of children in our schools and their special needs. This would include vocational, special education and disciplinary schools. The disciplinary schools could be under the supervision of not only the school system, but also the court system for monitoring those found guilty of crimes. My last suggestion concerns the schools providing extended services to children. The community for all areas of their lives should provide children. This includes medical, dental, mental, transportation and housing, if necessary. If parents will not or cannot provide a safe environment with the minimum needs for everyday life, then the community should provide these services. The best places to assess and monitor these needs are through the schools. Again, there would be strong political opposition to these proposals. Communities believe that the courts are the proper place for such concerns. Courts do handle these suggested needs, but they do not follow through to ensure the success of the child. Once the child walks out of the courtroom, he is on his own and back to the situation that brought him to court in the first place. Such strain on the child increases his likelihood of turning to crime and many times young lives end up committing serious crimes at a young age that can never be corrected and surely not forgiven. Our education system should be a truly educational system. The system should be responsible for the well-being and proper instruction in the law and the child’s responsibility to it. |
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