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“Criminal Justice Week Speech” March 27, 2003When I was asked to speak at today’s event, I immediately accepted. Everyone knows that I like to talk. But, more importantly I knew that it gave me the opportunity to say to all of you in this room – Thank You! Thank You for the job well done this past year and Thank You for the job you will do this next year. This Morning I want to talk about juvenile crime in Clay County and how it relates to the two worlds of criminal justice – One which is hard to get a handle on which we call the American Dream and the other that we find represented in this room today, which I call – The Real World. Let me share with you something that was written in 1841 – 17 years before Florida was a State – admitted in 1845 and before Clay County was incorporated in honor of Henry Clay (a senator of Ky.) in 1858. Dr Channing, a leading authority on juvenile crime wrote: Society has hitherto employed its energy chiefly to punish crime. It is infinitely more important to prevent it. If the child be left to grow up in utter ignorance of duty, of its Maker, of its relations to society, to grow up in an atmosphere of profaneness and intemperance and in the practice of falsehood and fraud, let not the community complain of its crime. It has quietly looked on and seen him, year after year, arming himself against its order and peace; and who is to blame when at last he deals the guilty blow? I do not say that it can be done; but in order to transform the next generation, what we should aim to provide substitutes for bad homes, evil training, unhealthy air and food, stagnation and terrible ignorance, the child should be placed in happier scenes, with better teaching, proper conditions of physical life, sane amusements and a higher cultivation. But, who is to pay for all of this? The State which means society! Since these words were spoken look what this great country has been through – We have added 24 States including Florida to these United States; We have fought the Civil War, WW I & WW II, The Korean War, The Viet Nam War, The Gulf War and we are now on the fighting Gulf War II. These wars were fought to advance freedom and Democracy for the entire World. We have gone from riding horses to the invention of cars, to planes, and now, to rockets that can travel through space. We have advanced, so some say, from reading books by candle to the miracle of television to the greater miracle of the computer that allows us instant information on any subject imaginable. All of this to pursue the American Dream. And a part of that American Dream is that our children will live in a better world without the fear of crime and that they as children would not be caught up in a system for having committed crime. But, these words spoken by Dr. Channing are still as fresh and true as they were 162 years ago. Not that we haven’t tried. But somewhere along the way, we lost focus on the simplicity of these words. Our priorities were reorganized and continue to be reorganized today. In the mid 1800s something else was starting to grow within society. We started to formulate a dream where everything was right, where every wrong of society could be answered and corrected. This could happen because of the great world of Statistics. We started collecting data that would give us the answers – we called that Statistics. France, led the way. Adolphe Quetelet, who actually was a great astronomer and mathematician, was the first to tell us in 1828- 1829, what crime was, who committed it and how much of it would occur? To that people started to dream about ways to make things better, how to control crime, how to make it less of a problem….like Ford, everyone had a better idea! Well the ideas kept on coming……and so did the statistics…today we spend millions of dollars in the State of Florida – right on juvenile programs to determine what supposedly works and what supposedly doesn’t. Over the last seven years the Department of Juvenile Justice has had no less than 50 research projects, spending hundreds of thousands of dollar telling us about crime among the juvenile in the State of Florida. For example, we are told that for fiscal year 2001-2002, there were 97,362 children referred to the Department. Of those, 54% were diverted to other programs outside of court while 9% were committed. There is an old quote that comes to mind: Statisticians collect facts, then draw their own confusions. But, the statistics that drives home the point that I want to make about the conflict that exists between this dream world we all want and the statements of Dr. Channing are these; In fiscal year 1997-1998, the budget for the Department was $518 million dollars. Out of that, $51.1 million dollars was spent on prevention programs, that’s about 10%. For the proposed budget year 2003-2004, the proposed budget is $577 million dollars with $16 million dollars being spent on prevention, that’s a reduction from 10% to 2.8% Our legislature in Tallahassee right now is formulating how to make our dream world come about…to make things better for future generations…….Haven’t we all heard that over and over? Does that dream world really exist? But, lets get back to the real world. The real world is in this room…..For Clay County in 2001-2002 fiscal year Clay had a little under 1000 children referred to the Department, 615 resulted in non-judicial sanctions, of which 450 were sent to diversion programs, 160 were committed to DJJ and 20 were transferred to Adult Court. Now from the Department of DJJ Clay County received approximately $93,000 for one diversion program. So, in the real world of Clay County where do these diversion programs come from? It comes from those sitting in this room. It’s each of you that put your sweat, your tears, and your hearts into your work for Clay County. There are no statistics for that. It is what this community makes it – and this community Thanks to You makes life better for our children: Look at the programs that are represented in this room: The Kids Calendar Program The Sweat Program Teen Court Truancy Court And many others that I don’t know about…. And behind each of those programs is a group of individuals that make them successes – by their own sweat and tears – by their own money – all these programs are products and supported by this county. If you go into Judge Crenshaw’s courtroom you are going to encounter the only man in Clay County that I have to physically look up to, Folks that is one tall man – but, you are going to see that Judge Crenshaw looks each young person in the eye and talks to them on their level to stress one point, he cares. Go to Judge Townsend’s courtroom and you are going to hear him tell those kids and their parents how important school and getting an education is – he cares. When you talk to Joyce Alford and her staff and see the many hours they put in to ensure the education of our children in a safe environment you know that they care. When you talk to Scot Lancaster, Lt. Gann, the school resource officers, the cooking team that support us over and over, see the explorers who work long hours volunteering to help in any way they can – you know that our law enforcement agencies care. When you attend Teen Court and see Debbie and Linda who everyone knows is each child’s mother – you know they care. When you talk to Joy Curtis and the excellent probation staff she supervises – you know they care. And I have said enough for you to get the picture – We put up the resources, and many times that is out of our own pockets to make these prevention programs exist, but it is you that put your everyday lives into making them human that causes the great success we have in Clay County. As I close, please know two things: First, statistics don’t matter when you help one or any child have a little better life. If you change the life of one child, you have done your fair share. Anything else is up and above what you are asked to do. Second, you should take tremendous pride in what you do and you should be proud to be a valuable part of this community. For this Clay County Thanks You…and I thank you. |
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