Live Blog: Juvenile Justice Policy Forum @ JUPPI

[TheCat]

Whoah, a mad rush for chairs as way more people are here than expected.

Mullaney is speaking at the podium. He is introducing


Angela B. Corey, State Attorney, Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida

Angela Corey is a native of Jacksonville. A 32-year veteran prosecutor, Ms. Corey is in her third term as State Attorney. During her initial 25 years in the Fourth Judicial Circuit, Ms. Corey tried hundreds of cases, including 50 homicides. In 2007, Corey joined the 7th Judicial Circuit as an Assistant State Attorney in the homicide investigative unit, then was elected to serve as the State Attorney of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida in 2008. Ms. Corey has devoted time to training police and prosecutors, achieved Board Certification in Criminal Trial Law, and is involved in several community and civic activities. She received her J.D. from the University of Florida in 1979.

[TheCat]

The format of tonight's event. Each speaker will talk for about ten minutes. Then,  there will be a Q&A.


Corey is at the podium.

Corey is saccharinely smiley. Her language is concise and rhythmic. Like a kindergarten teacher explaining law to grown adults. I don't mind. 

[TheCat]

She is practicing a strange form of legal apologetics, when a child is tried as an adult. When a child goes into adult courts it simply gives the child a wider range of punishment options. So, the child can be punished by an adult/juvenile punishment options.

She says something like "we don't go after men, we don't go after boys. These are the people who commit crimes...So, don't just buy into blanket statements."

[TheCat]

Rutherford is being introduced. Mullaney, has a personal anecdote about every person in the entire world. Rutherford, we should know, was an excellent left-handed pitcher. They went to the same high school, Rutherford is three years older than Mullaney.



John H. Rutherford, Sheriff, Jacksonville

Sheriff John H. Rutherford has served three terms as Jacksonville Sheriff and was elected each time with a sweeping mandate from the citizens of Duval County. He's now in his 40th year with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, where he attained the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant and captain, and then was appointed by then Sheriff James McMillan to the rank of Chief. Sheriff Rutherford is a graduate of Florida State University, the FBI National Academy and the FBI's Executive Institute.

[TheCat]

We just got word from the JUPPI program manger that there are about 135 people in attendance tonight.

Rutherford starts with a story about how he had 8 sets of parents in the community he had to answer to when he was a kid.

Law enforcement, he says, is not the answer to solving the crime problem.

He gives us some crime trends form UCR,uniform crime reports:

- We had about 7k crime reports in 2009 and in 2013 we have about 6k crime reports.
- arrest records: 40k in 2009 and 35k in 2013
- juvenile:8,469 juvenile calls to the police. and with most of them the cops were able to deal with the situation with a verbal warning.

he addresses "the pipeline from schools to arrests".
--when they make an arrest. From the time of an arrest only 16 percent are rearrested within four years. He says that is a low recidivism rate that could be even lower.

He explains that civil citations are a way to document a warning to a juvenile. Then the next time there is an issue the cop has more information to decide on an arrests. Rutherford explains that he is for civil citation but he is not necessarily sold on their effectiveness. He things kids need to learn that there are consequences to their actions.

The problem he says is teaching how to young boys and girls to be non-violent men and women. He starts tackling huge social issues like the divorce rate, faith and other social issues.

[TheCat]

he does say this is not about economics. There are a lot of poor people who will never stick a gun in your face. It comes down to faith and God, and he is not afraid to say it.

[TheCat]

Shirk is up:

Currently the public defenders office is currently representing over 150 kids. He takes issues with "legally" turning children into adults. His talk was short...

[TheCat]

Next up:



The Honorable Henry E. Davis, Circuit Court Judge, Fourth Judicial Circuit

The Honorable Judge Henry E. Davis is a native of Jacksonville. After practicing law with the U.S. Justice Department and in private practice for several years, he began his judicial career with his appointment to circuit judge by Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1992. Judge Davis has presided in assignments to the civil, family, criminal (felony), and juvenile delinquency/dependency divisions of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Judge Davis is a member of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and the Florida Commission on Ethics. He received his J.D. from Florida State University in 1975.

[TheCat]

Judge Davis, for some reason there is a purge of laughter as Davis comes to speak...I think he might have a reputation as a bit of a joker. He says "thank you for inviting me to speak hear one time, i won't be insulted if you don't invite me back."

Davis comes off as a total nerd, in all of the good ways one can be a nerd.

He discusses the Jacksonville and segregation. He went to a segregated high school. He says "I'm going to go ahead and jump to the conclusion of my time."

We need to go ahead and focus our attention on children that have not been conceived.

We need to talk about race...I can barely hear him...

"When we talk about juvenile justice we are talking about black kids. That's what we are talking about...audience applauses." He says,  "out of the 18 kids that were on my list today fifteen were black."

We can't dismiss that people are still a product of slavery. The lingering effects still exist.

[TheCat]

Says "juvenile delinquents are also victims. They didn't ask for that circumstance. If I had the parents these kids had I would be dead, myself. Some of these kids don't have the options that we have. Everyone here is sitting here today because they won the birth lottery."

So far, Judge Davis is the most captivating speaker as he plainly explains that no one really has a right to be patting ourselves on our backs for our success as most of us have had much better up bridgings.

[TheCat]

"If you don't have a parent that can pay for your school. Public school is very expensive by the way. If you don't have parents that can pay for the light bill...you are in big trouble. "

[TheCat]

The audience keeps cracking up and I keep missing the jokes!!!! He talks fast and his punchlines are almost under a whisper.

[TheCat]

He gets into actual brain development for juveniles. Kids don't actually understand deterrence and consequence to their actions as much as adults. Hank Coxe talked about this in his tedx Jacksonville talk (do a search for coxe on the site).

Seriously...another uproarious laugh from the audience and I missed it.

[TheCat]

Time for Q&A:

Q: when is it appropriate to charge a juvenile as an adult?

Shirk: There is no judicial oversight for charging a child as an adult. Shirk is not necessarily against it. He thinks there are cases where it is appropriate.

Rutherford: Capital cases but I think you have to look at individual circumstances.

Corey: yes. Juveniles can only be punished at a maximum of 36 months.

[TheCat]

Q: Civil citations for battery?

Rutherford: I don't think a citation is out of line for kids that get into a fight. But, when a kid just attacks that is battery and it needs to be held to account.

Corey: (she stands up to answer a question). Why are we asking if citations are important when kids are on the internet bragging about their crimes. it's time to refocus.

She claims Shirks office is putting out incorrect statistics.

Corey is an obvious grand stander.

Shirk: What statistics are we putting out that are incorrect?