Florida growing friendlier to criminal-justice reform, poll indicates
Floridians may be rethinking their throw-the-book-at-’em approach to crime, a poll released Monday suggests.
The survey by The James Madison Institute and the Charles Koch Institute found that 72 percent of Floridians agreed or strongly agreed it is important to reform criminal justice.
Seventy-five percent agreed or strongly agreed the prison population costs the country too much money.
And almost two-thirds believed there were too many nonviolent offenders behind bars.
“The poll solidified what we’ve come to know — Floridians want criminal justice reform,” said Sal Nuzzo, vice president of policy at JMI.
“Policymakers should take serious strides toward improving the outcomes of those within the criminal justice system, increasing public safety and continuing to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” he said.
The survey comes amid increased attention to Florida’s approach to crime. Organizations including Florida TaxWatch and the ACLU of Florida have called for reform, and state Sen. Jeff Brandes wants to make reform a top priority.
Still, the Legislature refused to add 734 jobs to make the Department of Corrections more secure. The new positions would have allowed prison staff to work eight-hour instead of 12-hour shifts.
Meanwhile, violence has been on the rise within the prison system. On Sept. 8, hundreds of inmates created a major disturbance at a Holmes County prison. This followed an incident in June in which 300 inmates smashed up two dormitories at Franklin Correctional Institution; that was the third disturbance there this year.
Survey Sampling International conducted the poll of 1,488 Florida residents in English and Spanish in July through an opt-in, web-based panel. The margin of error was pegged at plus or minus three percentage points.
Detailed findings here.
In other results, 72 percent of Floridians said people convicted of felonies should be allowed to secure licenses to work following their release.
And 74 percent said prisons should focus more on rehabilitation than punishment.
Regarding juvenile offenders, 70 percent stated they should be separated from adults behind bars. By a 47-point margin, the poll’s respondents trusted judges rather than prosecutors to decide whether to charge juveniles as adults.
Florida has held back while other states pursued criminal justice reform, said Vikrant Reddy, a senior research fellow for Koch.
“But recent changes to mandatory minimum sentencing, improved civil asset forfeiture practices, and a renewed focus on mental health treatment demonstrate that things are changing in the Sunshine State,” Reddy said.
“Florida’s leaders should continue this momentum, listen to their constituents, and keep working toward enacting criminal justice reforms.”
What ever it Is Directing Government. Its not Public Opinion.
The people of Florida and any other citizen can call for reform all they want, but as long as people in government are benefiting financially and politically from being “tough on crime” (mostly sex offenders) and the prison industries, therapy industries, and law enforcement industries are all benefiting from federal funding to keep their reign of terror going, nothing, and I mean nothing from the general public is going to stop it. Like I said, our forefathers had a remedy for the government being a nuisance in their lives. It was called bayonets and rifles.
MJ, I doubt many people realize they have a right and a duty to overthrow a corrupt government. The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence gives us this power:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence#Annotated_text_of_the_engrossed_Declaration
You start with civil disobedience.If you were put back in the system by the Walsh Act then fight back. If your not on probation, then tell the cops NO. Don’t sign anything and don’t let them on your property if they don’t have a warrant. Resist them at every angle in every opportunity.
It is my understanding that if you are on the registry, the cops can come on your property at regular intervals to check on you without any warrant. I’m not sure because I am still on probation, but I know that on my 6 month registration with the sheriff’s office, I have to give any gate code I might have so they can come on property unannounced.
Probation can search your home.
if you are not on probation, the sheriff’s office cannot come search your home without a warrant.
They can come to your door and ask to see your license to ensure it’s you and that you have the brand on there. If they ask to come in without a warrant, I can’t imagine why you would let them in.
To H.. Yes even if you are NOT on probation the police still have the right to come on your property unannounced to you and you do have to open your door to them so they can check on the person who is on the registration list. I do know that in Florida after 10 yrs. you can petition the courts to be taken of the registration list and to not have to register any more.
you are completely incorrect about being able to petition to get off the list after 10 years in Florida.
Kim,
you never have to open the door for police, only way they can enter is with a warrant on or off probation, now the probation officer can search your home without a warrant, unsure if they can brake door down if you don’t answer like police would if they have a search warrant.
Franklin Correctional Institution is a troubled facility. There have been numerous incidents of guard-on-inmate and inmate-on-inmate violence, up to and including murder. I find it astonishing that the media believes staff shortages led to the riots. Riots occur because the prisoners are not being treated with the humanness that is supposedly guaranteed by the US, State, and DOC laws and regulations. For years FCI was run by a small group of crime families. Nepotism was rampant. FCI is only a symptom of a bigger problem. State, County, and City law enforcement departments and judicial systems have a long history of mass and lengthy incarceration. Florida is , and will remain, a backwater, Jim Crow state until “leadership” is changed from the top down.
You are absolutely right JZ! I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about Franklin myself. I was at Mayo for 3 years and it was totally run by a group of about 4-5 families. I won’t mention names, although I should, but let’s just say one officer was named Jones. Well, Officer Jones #1 would work the morning shift, and then his brother Sgt. Jones would come in at night and work night shift. And you’ll love this, one of the officers actually sold the land to the state that the prison sits on. So not only did she benefit financially from the selling of her land, but she is further being paid by the state to work there. What a deal hey?! I love your description of Florida at the end. It is definitely a backwater Jim Crow state dominated by stupid Republican leaders who are just as crooked as the day is long (i.e. Ron Book, Lauren Book, Scott, Bondi, and the like). Here are some true, honest renditions of Florida I’m sure you and everyone else will love:
https://www.google.com/search?q=florida+memes&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWt9-Dg6PPAhUFGh4KHaLNCfgQsAQIHQ&biw=1280&bih=918#imgrc=wz_9LSMOMrQuqM%3A
https://www.google.com/search?q=florida+memes&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWt9-Dg6PPAhUFGh4KHaLNCfgQsAQIHQ&biw=1280&bih=918#imgrc=MHrdIo9eK-9I6M%3A
MJ, I suspect most prisons in Florida were cast from the same mold; an incestuous relationship between local crime families, “law enforcement,” and politicians.
Speaking of reform, this is a great read:
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/wards_of_the_nanny_state_protecting_americas_children_from_police_stat
The tide is change (albeit slowly) because over criminalization in FL and the USA has made it where more and more citizens are being incarcerated and charged with felonies – it is touching more families than ever before – once a family walks in those shoes their attitudes change.
This is great news. A good start would be to clean up the registry and implement a tiered system.
when i go to the cops every 6 months they make me sign a paper stating i agree and understand.
must i legally sign that? there is to much bs crap on there to understand it and i feel as though i’m being compiled to sign it.
To Kim, You cannot petition to be removed from the registry until after 25 years of being on the registry. And you have to have a completely clean record (not sure about driving records), and usually it is denied. Florida is a life-sentence state for the registry.