Juvenile Justice Changes on Agenda

The chairman of the Senate panel that oversees the budget for criminal and civil justice  points to the decline in arrests and delinquency as evidence that the state’s prevention-and-diversion strategy is working, the News Service of Florida reports.  Now, there are bills in both chambers that would write prevention into the law that governs the Department of Juvenile Justice. Further changes are expected in the juvenile-justice system as the Legislature tries again to figure out how to comply with Supreme Court rulings on sentencing guidelines for underage offenders. The ruling in 2010, which says certain life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional, stems from a Florida case.