Florida Today/ Brevard Watchdog
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Posted by Matt Reed
Florida is locking up too many children for minor criminal violations, and that has cost taxpayers of millions of dollars more than is necessary, FLORIDA TODAY capitol correspondent Dave Heller reports.
The cost to lock up youth offenders has risen 30 percent over the past decade, kids are are leaving state facilities
more likely to commit another crime, says
a new report by government watchdog group Florida TaxWatch and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
State lawmakers adopted a tough-on-crime attitude that led to children getting locked up for minor offenses, such as misdemeanors and probation violations, said Dominic Calabro, president and chief executive of
Florida TaxWatch.
"Taxpayers can no longer afford the broken policy choices that have led to this out-of-control growth without making our communities any safer or offenders more accountable," Calabro said.
Florida spends $240 million a year to lock up kids in juvenile detention centers, Heller writes. The report estimates the state could save $50 million a year by redirecting more youth offenders to community programs.
The report says Florida has made more low-risk children stay in the facilities too long.
"The research shows that when a child spends more time in a facility like this, that’s more time that they’re away from their family, their school, their community," said Vanessa Carroll of the
Southern Poverty Law Center. "That does not poise them to readjust well when they go back home.”
Among the proposals by
Gov.-elect Rick Scott's transition team: no longer incarcerating juveniles guilty of misdemeanors. That could save $30 million per year, says a report by Scott's group.
What do
you make of the proposals?