Sunday, December 19, 2004

DJJ TRANSFER PRACTICES: HIGH $ COST TO TAXPAYERS; HIGH EMOTIONAL COST TO JUVENILES

The Orlando Sentinel published an article today after completing a six month investigation of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and it's practice of transfering juvenile offenders from one program to another, often multiple times. This practice often can strech the amount of time an offender can remain in state custody months or even years longer than originally intended by the judge.

Most of the transfers are requested by private providers, which runs nearly 90 percent of the juvenile justice residential system. The transfers cost us millions annually, as when an offender is transferred from one program to another, he/she has to start from scratch. For instance, if a kid is sentenced to a four months program, and he/she is transferred for whatever reason after three months, when he/she goes to the new program the four month clock starts all over again, with no credit for the time already served!

Check out the entire article, as it is truly enlightning.

1 Comments:

Blogger wanda said...

This is just another in a long line of state agencies in Florida that just can't seem to get it right. Maybe it would help if people were held accountable. Oh, wait I forgot, Florida is Bush country. In Bush country you don't hold people accountable for mistakes, you reward them.
I worked as a collector for a major furniture chain for 6 yesrs. I was very good but I hated my job. The stories I'd hear from people would just break my heart. Especially at this time of year.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I hope you'll come back and often!

4:35 PM  

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