GUEST COLUMNIST Sheriff Mina’s juvenile-justice reform is too little, too late
In August 2019, when I started my campaign for Orange County sheriff, the first policy my campaign released was a plan to end the school-to-prison pipeline. I am committed to ensuring that deputies begin to focus on keeping our kids safe, in school and out, instead of arresting them for common youthful behaviors.
On April 22, Sheriff John Mina penned an op-ed (“Orange Sheriff ’s Office revamping juvenile policies”) that said he is “in the process now of expanding our Juvenile Civil Citation program.” The Juvenile Civil Citation program is a statewide program, authorized by statute, that encourages counties and municipalities to steer youth misdemeanor offenders away from the criminal justice system.
The purpose of the program is that if kids are given a second chance and access to support services, they are much more likely to stay out of the criminal justice system long-term, compared to kids arrested for the same offenses.
Why has the sheriff waited this long? In September, I shared with him a story of my biracial son being placed in handcuffs by deputies. In November, he had to fire a deputy for their treatment of a middle schooler in the neighborhood where I grew up.
Has he waited this long because by implementing it now, he believes the voters will not notice his unforgivable past record?
The numbers do not lie, and the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office (OCSO) numbers are woeful. Statewide, in 2019, 62 percent of youth offenders were offered alternatives to arrest statewide. We should all want an average considerably higher than 62%, but we are trending in the right direction.
In 2019, under Sheriff Mina’s leadership, the Sheriff ’s Office had 487 youth offenders who were eligible for an alternative to arrest. Only 35% of them were offered an alternative to arrest. That means OCSO arrested 65% of eligible youth and four of those kids were 11 or younger! In June and July alone, 52 youth were eligible for alternatives, but OCSO arrested 50 of them!
For comparison, Pinellas County, with a similar population, issued 99% of eligible youth an alternative to arrest. They only arrested four eligible youth in 2019. That means that Sheriff Mina’s deputies arrested as many kids 11 and under, as the entire Pinellas County Sheriff ’s Office did last year.
This lack of leadership wastes taxpayers’ money. It costs law enforcement resources, burdens families, and clogs our court system. It heavily criminalizes common youthful behaviors.
In 2019, Orange County experienced a notable uptick in violent crime. Sheriff Mina said, “Making better use of juvenile civil citations does right by young people and gives us more time to focus on violent offenders.” I agree with him. His policy was a long time coming. If he had stopped arresting two out of every three kids who commit minor offenses in 2019, OCSO could have focused on that rise in violent crimes. Sheriff Mina has failed our youth, and he has failed to make our community safer during his time as Sheriff.