While many states have dramatically reduced youth incarceration, a new report finds Florida bucks that positive trend. The state confines over 1,700 young people on any given day, one of the highest populations in the country.
The report finds that a third of those youth are held for nonviolent offenses, and nearly 300 are locked up for technical, non-criminal violations of probation.
Wanda Bertram, a communication strategist with the Prison Policy Initiative, called it a startling and thoughtless use of confinement.
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"These are kids who are on community supervision, probation in lieu of having been sent to confinement," said Bertram. Breaking any of these rules is a technical violation of supervision, and Florida has seen fit to actually lock up kids for breaking these rules, which is a horrible waste of resources and a really thoughtless use of confinement for some really vulnerable people."
Despite the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice’s stated commitment in its Pathway to Impact plan to "safely reduce the number of youth in residential programs," the report finds hundreds still confined for low-level offenses.
That includes over 150 for “public order” offenses not involving weapons, over 130 for the lowest-level drug or property offenses, and nine for "status offenses."
Bertram explained that over the past 25 years, the number of kids in confinement nationally has dropped significantly without an increase in youth crime.
She said states like Massachusetts and Utah have led the way by banning incarceration for these minor offenses, but Florida has not kept pace.
"The decarceration of over 70% of youth over the last 25 years has not come with an increase in youth crime," said Bertram. "It's been effective, extremely safely. And that is why we are doubling down and urging states that have not kept pace with those reforms to fix their systems."
The report urges states like Florida to close youth jails and expand community-based diversion programs that are proven to be more effective.
