Our state is in desperate need of new
approaches to criminal justice. More than 96,000 people are locked in our
prisons, many of them elderly and sick, at an annual cost to taxpayers of 2.4 billion
dollars. Thousands of these prisoners were not convicted of any crime of
violence yet will be locked up for years under harsh sentencing laws. Florida
prisoners are provided with few educational or rehabilitative opportunities while
incarcerated. In order to pay for the healthcare costs of so many prisoners,
the Florida Department of Corrections closed down most drug treatment programs
for inmates. What we have is an ongoing disaster that the legislature has yet
to fix.
The Florida Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform is a nonpartisan
coalition of religious, policy and justice oriented groups seeking to bring
common sense solutions to Florida’s criminal justice system. We are focused on safely reducing Florida’s incarcerated population
and reducing racial disparities within the criminal justice system. States
across the South and the country have shown that criminal justice reform can be
done in a bipartisan way that saves taxpayer money, improves public safety, and
rehabilitates those that have broken the law. (More information at
BetterJusticeFl.com) While 33 states have enacted comprehensive criminal
justice reform over the past decade, Florida is not one of them.
Last Monday in Bradenton, members of the campaign met with citizens who
have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system. We heard stories
from the family members of inmates about the hardship long term incarceration
causes. The event was held in Senator Bill Galvano’s district because he has a
historic opportunity as the President of the Florida Senate to make criminal
justice reform a priority in the next legislative session.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Florida Bar convened a criminal justice
summit. This unprecedented event brought together judges, prosecutors, public
defenders, legislators and advocates in one room to identify and work through
issues. Participants received training on recognizing and eliminating implicit
bias that can lead to racial disparities in sentencing. We learned about the
conviction integrity units prosecutors in Jacksonville and Tampa have
established to not only examine cases of innocence, but also to prevent
wrongful convictions in the future. Progress has been made in juvenile justice
thanks to implementation civil citation programs that provide a meaningful
alternative to arrest and prosecution of offenders
The data shows that crime rates have fallen dramatically but our prison
population remains basically the same. This is due to the extreme length of
many sentences and absence of any meaningful way to review those cases to
consider whether the prisoner can be safely released. Florida has more than 100
different “mandatory minimum” sentences that tie judge’s hands and requires
them to send people to prison without any chance to consider the facts and
circumstances of the crime. While consensus has not been reached on all
solutions, there was a communal understanding that there is a lot of hard work
to be done if we want a criminal justice system that is fair and in which we
can have confidence. However, concerned citizens need to continue to push our
legislators to make comprehensive criminal justice reform a priority in our
next legislative session.
Adam Tebrugge is a board certified
criminal trial attorney with more than 30 years of experience in Sarasota and
Manatee counties.
This column was published in the Sarasota Herald Tribune online edition on 10/22/18 and in the print edition on 10/23.
