National Juvenile Defender Center On Florida Juvenile Courts

The National Juvenile Defender Center did a study of the Florida juvenile court system and came away with several disturbing findings.

The Center found young people make these sacrifices because judges often encourage them to do so without ensuring that they understand potential ramifications.

"If children are not properly informed of the consequences, they will likely opt to waive counsel or accept a guilty plea to get out of the courtroom quickly," said Patricia Puritz, co-author of the report and director of the Center. Puritz told The NewStandard that the underfunded and overwhelmed court system encourages waiving counsel or accepting guilty pleas. "It keeps the docket moving; it gets rid of a lot of cases."

The report also noted that a $40 application fee charged to indigent defendants who want publicly supplied legal counsel deters low-income parents from engaging a public defender.

The Center sent court observers to 10 out of 20 judicial circuits in the state to monitor courtroom proceedings and interview young defendants, public attorneys, judges and courtroom staff.

The report also discusses how inexperienced laywers start out in the juvenile system. Most lawyers who take a job as a public defender can't get hired awhere else as an attorney. This leads to many kids getting poor legal representation.

I see if I can find the whole report. If anyone has the link feel free to email me or add it in the comments.