In Florida, children are only protected from arrest until they are seven years-old. After that, they can be charged for violent offenses, including for family fights and disturbances at home.
Once they are ensnared in the juvenile justice system, young girls face unique challenges that can totally derail their lives.
According to a new report from the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center and the American Children’s Campaign, Florida’s criminal justice system and state services should be doing more for justice-involved girls.
The authors of the study wrote that despite an earlier report in 2008 highlighting the deficiencies of Florida’s youth justice system, and which gathered consensus among the system’s various players, progress had been slow in areas like guaranteeing girls’ rights to fair and equitable treatment, and protecting them from violence in detention facilities..
‘We Have Failed to Safeguard Girls’ Rights’
“Despite our successes, we have failed to safeguard [these] rights for thousands of Florida girls,” the study said. “The needs of girls continue to show that we must do more to ensure their well-being.
“Community-based services and alternatives to incarceration continue to be limited.”
The center’s Status of Girls research series surveyed the needs of girls in each Florida county, and found that about one in 10 girls report being a victim of rape, and one in three report that they do not feel safe in school.
It’s essential for the system’s decision makers to understand the role that exposure to trauma and violence play in girls’ behavior and juvenile justice involvement, the report said.
“Too often, instead of addressing the trauma that is paving the pathway into the justice system, the system’s punitive and uniformed response causes further harm and derails girls’ futures,” report authors argue.
The authors cited interviews with a number of impacted girls as signposts for achieving change.
“Each girl is different, some heal fast, some don’t. Some understand, some don’t. Some are respectful, some aren’t,” one girl told researchers. “It is up to you to have patience to help them.”
Florida’s Report Card
As part of the center’s blueprint, Florida’s progress on major policy benchmarks and goals was graded as part of a report card.
The good? Florida has successfully passed a handful of laws addressing treatment of children, girls and victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
Florida’s Safe Harbor Laws make sure that trafficked children are not treated as criminals and prevent them from being detained in “secure confinement.”
Pregnant girls who are incarcerated are not allowed to be shackled, and policies allow juvenile records to be privately protected and, eventually, expunged at 21-years-old.
Florida has seen a 66 percent reduction in arrests between 2008 and 2019, and a 67 percent reduction in incarceration during the same period, but the state has lagged in other key progress areas.
But on the demerit side, Florida has failed to fund community-based alternatives for incarcerated girls, create a probationary system that assigns girls to female case managers, or restrict detention for girls who don’t pose a threat to public safety.
For girls in residential commitment who pick up additional charges, the Center calls on Florida to reconsider charges when those programs are credibly accused of abuse and neglect.
The Center also continues to call on the state to create a legislative work group dedicated to girls in the juvenile justice system, coordinating with state departments and the state’s courts and mental health providers.
The Policy Center and the American Children’s Campaign make a number of updated policy recommendations for the state of Florida, centered around five central strategies:
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- Enact legislation to stop children and girls entering into the juvenile justice system;
- Stop “institutionalized traumatization” of girls and overhaul and the conditions of confinement;
- Ensure accountability and monitor data;
- Mandate training and girl-centered standards for stakeholders; and,
- Fund specific and essential girl-centered services.
The Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center works with girls within the juvenile justice system across four avenues of action: research, advocacy, training, and model programming.
The full report can be accessed here.
Audrey Nielsen is a TCR justice reporting intern.