Guest AuthorLast week word leaked out that one of the first agency heads Gov. Rick Scott selected was leaving state government.
Wansley Walters, Secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, had signed up for a state pension program that required her to leave state employment after five years. So, her time ran out before the end of the Governor’s term.
I’ve known Ms. Walters for close to 20 years. I was introduced to her by Tom Olk, the CEO of DISC Village. He knew her as a colleague who worked at the other end of the state, down in Miami. He told me that she was destined for better things, and he was right.
Ms. Walters became the sixth secretary of the Juvenile Justice Department. She was the first female leader of the department, which when it was formed was all about law and order. Juvenile crime in Florida was spiraling out of control and Floridians considered the juvenile justice system a joke, especially by the kids themselves.
In 1994 then-Gov. Lawton Chiles selected Miami Police Chief Calvin Ross as its first secretary. He instituted “Tough Love,” and three other law-enforcement officers and two legislators followed him in that job. In the process, Florida became the national model for how to treat young offenders.
The state instituted the innovative Juvenile Assessment Centers (JACs) that sprouted up in urban areas. The centers provided police with a place to drop off kids after they had been apprehended, and provided the kids with access to treatment programs.
This was the turning point for the juvenile justice system in Florida. State officials now understood that all kids are different and that treatment must be tailored specifically for each of them.
Florida began providing beds for serious habitual offenders. The state continued providing financial support for day programs that specialized in working with kids with less serious issues.
Over time, professionals such as Olk and Ms. Walters began preaching that less long-term punitive treatment was necessary. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a commission to review juvenile justice in the state. Resistance to the commission’s recommendations was considerable.
About the same time, juvenile justice officials started using Juvenile Civil Citations (JCCs). JCCs came into fashion because professionals realized that 50 percent of kids who entered the juvenile justice system would later go to prison. Why?
Because many incarcerated youths became exposed to other young inmates who were more violent and dangerous.
So, Ms. Walters adopted the JCC concept in Miami as part of a pilot program. The concept was straightforward. If a police officer encountered a kid whose crime was truancy or a misdemeanor, the officer had the option to issue a civil citation — a paper ticket.
The youth would then have 24 hours to show up at the JAC, where he would be assessed and assigned a treatment regimen. The JCC would become a national model, and its success is still being felt today.
Success rates for JCCs quickly proved their value. Ms. Walters saw the benefit of JCCs and she implemented them in Miami. We learned that not all kids needed to be punished; many just needed help.
Once she became DJJ Secretary, Ms. Walters began an overhaul of DJJ. She worked to turn DJJ into the front-end agency that behavioral professionals always dreamed it should be. She embraced JCCs, which today are in 57 of the 67 counties in the state. More kids are diverted than incarcerated and that’s a huge victory for the visionary men and women who have run agencies that serve this important population.
While change hasn’t come quick enough for many, change will happen when agencies have leaders that believe in their own experience.
Florida was lucky because Ms. Walters was one of three finalists for the prestigious national post of director of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in Washington, D.C. Her loss was our gain and over the last three and half years she has instituted a new culture within DJJ.
We’ve come a long way and there is certainly much that remains to be done but we should count our lucky stars that Scott picked a leader who was strong but also caring.
My bet is that Ms. Walters will be back because we always need compassionate leaders.
Barney Bishop III is the President & CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting, LLC and also serves as the President & CEO of the Florida Smart Justice Alliance. Barney can be reached at [email protected] Column courtesy of Context Florida.
