Florida lawmakers must protect children’s futures
Florida prosecutes more children for felonies in the adult criminal justice system than any other state. The collateral consequences are long-lasting.
I (McKenzie) was convicted of a felony for an armed robbery I committed at the age of 15, when
I was young, impressionable and unaware of the consequences I would face long after serving my time. Being branded a felon has left me facing discrimination in job applications and securing housing, and has blocked me from being able to volunteer at my children’s school. Despite working hard to turn my life around, I’ve faced challenges at every turn.
These struggles are far too common across Florida. For many young people convicted of felonies as children, a youthful mistake can hang with them for years, making it extremely difficult to find a job, rent a home, or simply get by in our society.
That is why the Juvenile Diversion Program Expunction Act — a bipartisan bill (HB 93 and SB 274) moving through the Florida Legislature — is so important. The bill would qualify up to 21,000 kids in Florida to have their juvenile felony records expunged once they complete their post-arrest diversionary programs, bringing the process in line for how misdemeanors are currently expunged.
Now is precisely the right time to undertake this shift. Juvenile arrests in Florida are at a historic 45-year low, plunging 50% from 2016 to 2020. And the bill — filed by Sen. Keith Perry (R-District 8) and Rep. David Smith (R-District 28) — passed unanimously on the Senate floor.
The bill would remedy a damaging tripwire in the juvenile justice system that makes it unreasonably difficult for a child to move on with their lives even after they’ve been released.
Under current law, a child can only apply to have their record expunged five years after completing a post-arrest diversionary program. That means that if a 16-year-old successfully finishes a diversionary program, the soonest they could get their record expunged is at age 21 — having already missed countless opportunities to go to college, get a job, rent an apartment, and more. Their lives are permanently sidetracked because of a mistake they made as a child.
The absurdity of this approach is on view every day at juvenile detention centers across Florida and beyond, where children are being trained for vocational jobs — welding, pipe fitting, contracting, etc. — that they often can’t get once they’re released because many states, including Florida, make it difficult or impossible for anyone with a felony record to get the state certifications needed to qualify for those jobs. We are putting unnecessary obstacles in the way of people who are simply trying to get their lives back on track.
We know from our families’ experiences that navigating adult life with a felony record is extremely difficult under even the best circumstances. It is near-impossible when you have to build your adult life from scratch with the constraints of a felony record ready to trip you up at every turn.
No one’s life should be permanently shattered for a mistake they made as a child.
The Florida legislature has the opportunity to right this wrong. They must pass the Juvenile Diversion Program Expunction Act now and it must be signed into law to ensure equity for our children.
Sheena Meade (@sheena_meade) is managing director of the Clean Slate Initiative, a national bipartisan coalition advancing policies to automatically clear all eligible criminal records across the United States. Marquis McKenzie is the Central Florida regional organizer for the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.