Watchdog: Civil juvenile diversion saves taxpayers money

Juvenile diversion programs hailed.

The state could have saved $218,000 in policing costs alone in a single year by sending low-level juvenile offenders into civil diversion programs instead of arresting them, a government watchdog group said Thursday.

Florida TaxWatch said juvenile misdemeanor pre-arrest diversion programs — JPADS in Tallahassee parlance — “are crucial to keeping juveniles from deeper involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, leading to a decrease in recidivism and improved odds of success in their adult lives. These programs also save significant taxpayer dollars that can be better invested elsewhere.”

The organization released a briefing paper noting differing eligibility standards between counties — and calling for a graduated system of sanctions and consistent eligibility criteria. Civil sanctions might include victim restitution, community service, and participation in drug or alcohol treatment programs, TaxWatch said.

“While the decision to issue a civil citation or refer a juvenile to a similar JPAD program should remain at the discretion of the officer, it is essential that juvenile misdemeanants have equal access to JPAD,” the paper said. “Creating this graduated system with aligned admission standards for each tier would help solve eligibility and utilization issues as well as maximize the range of available services.”

As for the money savings, TaxWatch considered that police officers earn an average of $40,000 annually, and spend at least one hour more making a formal arrest than when writing a civil citation.

“Using JPAD for all eligible juveniles that were arrested between April 2015 and March 2016 would give taxpayers back a statewide total of about 16 months (roughly $218,000 worth) of round-the-clock protection,” the paper concludes.

The average civil citation costs taxpayers $386 compared to $5,000 for an arrest, TaxWatch said — nearly 13 times more. Some civil citations cost even less because participants can be required to pay a fee, on a sliding scale depending on financial resources.

The average recidivism rate for the 9,000 or so juveniles served annually is 5 percent (and about 1 percent in Lee County), TaxWatch said. Post-arrest diversion programs run a 13 percent recidivism rate and probation services between 15 and 36 percent.

The paper noted that the state can maintain an arrest record until the offender turns 26. “This means that a juvenile’s arrest for something as small as loitering may impact his or her employment and educational opportunities until well into adulthood,” it said.

And additional education, in turn, can reduce violent crime by 30 percent and property crimes by 20 percent, the paper said.

“People, especially young people, sometimes make mistakes. However, we should not subject young offenders to unsuccessful policies that doom them to a bleak cycle of crime,” TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro said in a written statement.

“JPAD programs are an effective and efficient way to ensure that juvenile offenders are held accountable for their actions without subjecting them, and taxpayers, to the monetary and societal costs of an arrest,” he said.