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Column: Diversion programs don't need more study; they work

 
Tampa Bay Times
Published Aug. 26, 2016

In the Tampa Bay region, Pinellas County is making bold strides in diverting youths from the juvenile justice system, while Hillsborough County continues dipping toes in the water.

Case in point: the Delinquent Act Citation pilot program that recently began in Hillsborough County, which seemingly is part of the county's civil citation efforts that provide an alternative to arrest for common youth misbehavior. The experiment promises to study the effects of including in the civil citation program first-time juvenile offenders caught with small amounts of marijuana along with other minor misdemeanors.

The pilot program is completely unnecessary. Extensive, statistically valid data already exist statewide proving the effectiveness of offering civil citations as an alternative to arresting first-time youth marijuana offenders.

Why are children in Hillsborough subjected to an experiment when a proven course of action is already known and is used successfully in other parts of the Tampa Bay region and state? This creates a scenario that begs Florida policymakers to standardize policies and practices.

Until this experiment and despite much protest in recent years, Hillsborough was the only county in the state with a youth civil citation program that excluded marijuana, according to Dewey Caruthers, author of "Stepping Up: Florida's Top Civil Citation Efforts," the state's leading study on Florida civil citations.

More than anything else, the DAC experiment appears to be an attempt to pacify citizen activists, advocates and worried parents who have been upset over Hillsborough not including marijuana in its civil citation program like the rest of the state.

Throughout Florida, civil citation programs give first-time misdemeanor offenders the opportunity to participate in intervention services at the earliest stage of delinquency. By diverting these youths from the juvenile justice system, Florida is increasing public safety, improving outcomes and saving taxpayer money, according to the "Stepping Up" study.

With civil citations, youths are still held accountable. However, since an arrest record is avoided, civil citations give youths a better chance at obtaining meaningful employment, being accepted into military careers or qualifying for the college or housing or their choice.

Hillsborough County officials wouldn't have to travel far to see a successful civil citation program that includes marijuana. This spring, the city of Tampa implemented a civil citation program for adults to avoid arrest for small amounts of marijuana. Some of the state's best-performing diversion programs for youths and now adults exist just across the bridges in Pinellas County.

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For several years, Hillsborough officials haven't displayed much urgency on this issue despite the known facts and expert recommendations.

More than a year ago, a top expert from the Florida State University Project for Accountable Justice retained by the Hillsborough County Juvenile Justice Board recommended the county get in step with the rest of the state by offering civil citations to youths caught with marijuana. More than five years earlier, Caruthers made the same recommendation while consulting with Hillsborough's civil citation effort.

The true purpose of the DAC pilot seems to raise more questions than it apparently is designed to answer.

Hillsborough youth and taxpayers deserve a more informed and fact-driven approach that puts known outcomes before experiments based on idiosyncratic beliefs, however well-intended.

Roy Miller is president of the Children's Campaign in Tallahassee, a nonprofit that advocates for the health, safety, education and well-being of Florida's children.