Florida Juvenile Justice hit with $11M budget cut

[seafan]

Juvenile Justice hit with $11M budget cut

By Stephen D. Price
CAPITOL BUREAU
May 3, 2006

Children's advocates said they were blindsided by a $11 million cut legislators made Monday afternoon to the Department of Juvenile Justice budget, an agency they said had not had a significant raise since 1994.

"This decision came as a complete shock to us because the allocations were agreed to by the conferees that have oversight over the juvenile-justice system," Roy Miller, president of the Children's Campaign, said at a news conference Tuesday. "The programs are in emergency mode."

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Many providers have said that, for several years, funding rates for services contracted through DJJ have fallen far behind the rate of inflation and the need. DJJ contracts with private providers to operate juvenile detention centers, runaway shelters, residential programs and after-care programs.

The agency's budget has come under scrutiny this year with the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, who died Jan. 6, a day after he was restrained, hit and kneed by guards at the Bay County juvenile boot camp. No one has been charged in Anderson's death.

The Legislature decided to do away with boot camps and form a new system, similar to the highly-regarded boot camp in Martin County that focuses on education and after-care counseling. But even that boot camp is scheduled to fold this summer due to lack of funding.

"We needed $33 million to get off the cliff," said Mark Fontaine, executive director of the Florida Juvenile Justice Association. "Programs are going to have to see if they can stay afloat.

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From the Jacksonville Business Journal:


Cutting delinquency program could cost 30 local jobs

The Business Journal of Jacksonville
May 3, 2006

A decade old juvenile delinquency intervention program is targeted for elimination from the state budget, which includes the jobs of 30 Jacksonville employees currently working with 200 area children.

The Early Delinquency Intervention Program has served 4,800 youths in the Tampa and Jacksonville areas since 1992, according to a letter to Gov. Jeb Bush from Jay Plotkin, chair of the Duval County Juvenile Justice Council. More than 3,300 of those youths have remained crime-free.

"It is very disconcerting that the Department of Juvenile Justice has recommended the Governor eliminate a program that the Department, itself, has evaluated to be in the top 10 percent of programs in the State of Florida," the letter states.

The $1.6 million for the program has been deleted from the budget and can only be added back at the Governor's discretion....

snip

No, Jeb doesn't want to be seen as the *bad guy* here, so his Dept. of Juvenile Justice does the "recommending" to slash the budget. And now, he'll claim that there are "too many needs for a limited budget...".

Not even in the face of a state budget surplus of several billion dollars will he spend any of it to improve the lives of the people here in Florida.

[donsu]

1. watching Florida being destroyed - america hates children

evidence of the hatred is everywhere.

[JCMach1]

2. Last time I checked, Florida was in surplus again

guess they couldn't afford this without adding the new tax breaks..!!! :grr:

[truthisfreedom]

3. those bush "family values" at work again.

love it.