Youth Criminal Justice
Civil Citations
In 2014, a 7-year-old girl from Volusia County was arrested for bringing a pencil sharpener to school. Unfortunately this occurrence is not an anomaly. The state of Florida arrests more children than almost any of state in the country, many times for committing non-serious misdemeanor offenses. FAITH has identified "Civil Citations" as a solution to this problem. A Civil Citation is a diversion tool designed to punish minors who commit small infractions without giving them a lifelong arrest records. Civil Citations save taxpayers $4,000 per arrest and have been seen to reduce recidivism by over 30%!
FAITH has been working to expand access to Civil Citations by holding law enforcement accountable in Volusia County, as well as collaborating with 10 other organizations in the DART Network in order to address this injustice at the state level. Because of FAITH efforts the cities of Daytona Beach, New Smyrna, and the Volusia County Sheriff’s office have made huge improvements in their usage of Civil Citations. Since our Action in 2014, over 100 more children in Volusia County have been diverted from arrest because they were issued a Civil Citation! DART's collaborative efforts resulted in a piece of legislation becoming law which has made Civil Citations available to tens of thousands of more children across the state.
Despite these successes, today many children who are eligible for Civil Citations are still routinely arrested. This past year 322 eligible children in Florida were not given equal access to the Civil Citation diversionary program. Because there is no state law making Civil Citations the default punishment, and because different localities have different criteria for eligibility, often times a child's punishment corresponds with their location, rather than the severity of the offense they commit.
In 2018, FAITH won public commitments from officials in law enforcement, the local Department of Juvenile Justice, and the State Attorney's office, to sign an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) to ensure all eligible children in our county receive equal access to a Civil Citation!
FAITH has been working to expand access to Civil Citations by holding law enforcement accountable in Volusia County, as well as collaborating with 10 other organizations in the DART Network in order to address this injustice at the state level. Because of FAITH efforts the cities of Daytona Beach, New Smyrna, and the Volusia County Sheriff’s office have made huge improvements in their usage of Civil Citations. Since our Action in 2014, over 100 more children in Volusia County have been diverted from arrest because they were issued a Civil Citation! DART's collaborative efforts resulted in a piece of legislation becoming law which has made Civil Citations available to tens of thousands of more children across the state.
Despite these successes, today many children who are eligible for Civil Citations are still routinely arrested. This past year 322 eligible children in Florida were not given equal access to the Civil Citation diversionary program. Because there is no state law making Civil Citations the default punishment, and because different localities have different criteria for eligibility, often times a child's punishment corresponds with their location, rather than the severity of the offense they commit.
In 2018, FAITH won public commitments from officials in law enforcement, the local Department of Juvenile Justice, and the State Attorney's office, to sign an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) to ensure all eligible children in our county receive equal access to a Civil Citation!
Restorative Practices
The US Department of Education reports that out-of-school suspensions “are associated with negative student outcomes such as lower academic performance, higher rates of dropout, failures to graduate on time, decreased academic engagement, and future disciplinary exclusion.” The Florida Association of School Psychologists reports that students who are suspended just one time are ten times more likely to drop out of school than their un-suspended classmates. Yet, in a state that leads the nation in out-of-school suspensions, Volusia County ranks 5th highest out of 67 counties in the state for suspending kids.
Our county has an extremely highest rate of school-based arrest. For instance, Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange has the second highest arrest rate in the entire state of Florida! Arrests stay on children records for life and can bar them from receiving college scholarship, securing a good job, or even entering the military.
The harm of these disciplinary polices are not distributed equally. Students with disabilities and students or color are TWICE AS LIKELY to be ARRESTED and SUSPENDED than their classmates!
This is unacceptable.
Alternatives to these methods of punishment, such as Restorative Practices, have been enormously successful in school systems all over the country. In Duvall County, Florida, after implementing Restorative Practices, out-of-school suspensions in the district fell by 25%!
In 2019, F.A.I.T.H. is called on School Board Members to commit to expanding Restorative Practices from two middle schools in Volusia County to all schools by 2024. F.A.I.T.H. also won commitments from the School Board Members to create a plan to reduce suspensions by 50% or more in the next 3 years and to add measures to that plan which aim to eliminate the disparity in the suspensions of students of color and students with disabilities.
Already, as of Fall 2019, out-of-school suspensions had dropped by 50% in Volusia County High Schools, and over 30% in Middle Schools!
Our county has an extremely highest rate of school-based arrest. For instance, Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange has the second highest arrest rate in the entire state of Florida! Arrests stay on children records for life and can bar them from receiving college scholarship, securing a good job, or even entering the military.
The harm of these disciplinary polices are not distributed equally. Students with disabilities and students or color are TWICE AS LIKELY to be ARRESTED and SUSPENDED than their classmates!
This is unacceptable.
Alternatives to these methods of punishment, such as Restorative Practices, have been enormously successful in school systems all over the country. In Duvall County, Florida, after implementing Restorative Practices, out-of-school suspensions in the district fell by 25%!
In 2019, F.A.I.T.H. is called on School Board Members to commit to expanding Restorative Practices from two middle schools in Volusia County to all schools by 2024. F.A.I.T.H. also won commitments from the School Board Members to create a plan to reduce suspensions by 50% or more in the next 3 years and to add measures to that plan which aim to eliminate the disparity in the suspensions of students of color and students with disabilities.
Already, as of Fall 2019, out-of-school suspensions had dropped by 50% in Volusia County High Schools, and over 30% in Middle Schools!