Collaborate with public and private partners to find creative, equitable, and responsible solutions to systemic community problems, especially permanent, supportive housing for persons experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
Many jurisdictions, locally and nationwide, have implemented adult pretrial diversion programs to help reduce the number of people unnecessarily entering and reentering the criminal justice system for behaviors related to substance abuse, mental health, poverty, or other conditions. While some jurisdictions include all nonviolent misdemeanors within the diversion programs, others focus on a select list of eligible offenses. In Florida, one of the first prearrest diversion programs for adults was implemented in 2013 in Leon County (Exhibit 1).
On November 10, 2015, the Board of County Commissioners enacted Ordinance No. 2015-45 ("Cannabis Ordinance"), codified at Section 21-6 of the Code, making possession of up to 20 grams of cannabis (a misdemeanor under Florida law) a violation of the Code, and providing civil penalties for such violation. This proposed Ordinance seeks to expand Broward County's Cannabis Ordinance to include all nonviolent misdemeanor offenses under Florida law, with some exceptions. Eligible offenses would include, but are not limited to, possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor assault or battery (with no or very minor injuries), retail theft of a shopping cart, trespass on property other than a structure or conveyance, petit theft, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, littering, loitering, and possession of alcoholic beverages by persons under age 21. Ineligible offenses would include, but are not limited to, a felony, a misdemeanor offense charged in connection with any charge that is a felony, an incident involving domestic violence or a violent crime, driving under the influence (DUI), and other felony traffic-related offenses.
The Broward County Sheriff, City of Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and the Broward Public Defender have expressed support of a prearrest diversion program for adults. Organizations including the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida Public Defender Association, Inc., the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Bar Association, the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and Florida Tax Watch have also expressed support of prearrest diversion programs for adults that use evidence-based assessments and intervention services to divert people into services instead of arresting them for commission of nonviolent misdemeanor offenses.
Expanding the current Ordinance affords law enforcement officers greater latitude to issue civil citations for other nonviolent crimes, which in turn reduces the jail population and resulting taxpayer expenses, and ensures that those adults receive appropriate intervention services.
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