1. Broward County Sheriff’s Office Civil Citation Program Evaluation
Mary Clisbee EdD, Liezette Abel-Ruffin EdD, Vanaja Nethi PhD, Joseph Melita EdD, Diane Gaston
Introduction
Context
Specific Objectives
Community Impact
Youth who commit misdemeanor crimes have the opportunity to avoid an arrest if they participate in a Civil Citation program. The Civil Citation program’s purpose is to prevent a juvenile from entering the juvenile justice system and having a documented criminal history that can negatively impact their future such as obtaining employment opportunities, military services or scholarship opportunities. As a consequence of the misdemeanor offense committed, and in lieu of an arrest and criminal record, the youth is given a citation and agrees to perform community service hours and must participate in an intervention service based on an assessment of the youth’s needs. According to Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice (2014), Civil Citation programs are designed to give law enforcement officers an alternative to arresting youth, yet provide the officers with appropriate consequences for minor, first-time misdemeanor delinquent acts. The goals of these programs are to hold the youth accountable for their behaviors, involve parents, and prevent the youth from further involvement in the juvenile justice system.
This research project is projected to have significant community impact within Broward County. By understanding the experience of those involved it is hoped that (1) fewer students will go deeper into the juvenile justice system; (2) early intervention or civil citation will reduce recidivism, (3) racial disparities in the criminal justice system will be reduced, and (4) youth will improve pro social, education and employment outcomes. This project will inform training and service delivery for BSO and the civil citation program staff. Quality community-based programs for youth have been found to be more cost-effective than incarceration and produce more public safety benefits than detaining and incarcerating youth (Justice Policy Institute, 2009).
To assess the effectiveness of the Civil Citation program
Explore the perceptions of the participating juveniles and their families about the ways in which their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors have changes as a result in participating in the civil citation program
Explore, document, and analyze the collaboration between the participating partners.
Identify participation barriers for the juveniles and their families
Identify reasons why qualifying juveniles are arrested rather than being offered a civil citation
In 2013, a collaborative, countywide movement began between public schools and law enforcement agencies with the primary objective to drastically reduce the number of children being arrested for minor crimes. Misdemeanor crimes were targeted because they accounted for the majority of the crimes committed in schools, and the easiest with which to intervene.
The majority of youth diversion programs use recidivism rates as the only outcome to measure program success. Recidivism is operationalized by monitoring the juvenile justice information system for additional charges of program members after completion. This singular measurement of program effectiveness by checking recidivism rates is insufficient, as it does not measure of the changes that occur in the youth’s knowledge, skills, attitudes, or behaviors nor the manner within which the program functions. This study is designed to include an exploration of more than merely measuring recidivism rates: it is also designed to explore changes in the juvenile as a result of their participation in the Civil Citation Program, formal exploration and documentation of the collaboration between and among the community partners, and identification of participation barriers.
References
“Civil Citation Program.” Retrieved from:
Florida Department of Juvenile Justice “Civil Citation” Retrieved from:
Petteruti, A., Velázquez, T. and Walsh, N. (May, 2009). The cost of confinement: why good juvenile justice policy makes good fiscal sense. Justice Policy Institute.
Stucki, B.W. (2013, December 4). “Reversing Broward County’s school to prison pipeline” Retrieved from
Walby, G. (2008). “Juvenile justice diversion programs: A study of civil citations and teen court programs in Florida.” Retrieved from:
Participants
BSO administrators
Law enforcement officers
Employees from BSO
Participating juveniles and their parents
Other program stakeholders
Data
Interview transcripts
Focus group transcripts
Observations
Photographs
Numerical data
Artifacts