Human Rights for Kids released a report in May of 2023 outlining the mass incarceration of children across the United States. With over 32,000 incarcerated for crimes committed during childhood nationally, Florida tallies in at 3rd in the country with over 2,600 currently incarcerated. 

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UN Human Rights Office | Human Rights Council | Fifty-fourth session | International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement | Visit to the United States of America

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• Human Rights for Kids estimates that here are more than 35,000 people currently incarcerated in U.S. prisons for crimes they committed as children. 
• This atrocity continues today because of laws that disregard child status, fail to ccount for childhood trauma, and ignore human rights law. 
• This report is dedicated to all of the people who continue to suffer human rights violations in juvenile detention facilities and adult jails, lock-ups, and prisons across the country. 
• National State Ratings Report on Human Rights Protections for Children in the U.S. Criminal Justice System. 
• The report rated every state on 12 categories of law that are vital to establishing a basic legal framework to protect the human rights of criminal justice system-involved youth.
• These categories cover four main areas, including, (1) entrance into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, (2) the treatment of children as adults, (3) conditions of confinement, and (4) release and social reintegration of child offenders. 
• The purpose of the report is to help educate the public and public policymakers on what reforms need to take place in order to better align our laws with human rights principles, including those found in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 
• The report also aims to inspire policy change by uplifting and celebrating the states that are doing well, while holding states that aren’t doing well accountable for their unjust laws.

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• Article 40

1. States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child's respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child's age and the desirability of promoting the child's reintegration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society.

2. To this end, and having regard to the relevant provisions of international instruments, States Parties shall, in particular, ensure that:

(a) No child shall be alleged as, be accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law by reason of acts or omissions that were not prohibited by national or international law at the time they were committed;

(b) Every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law has at least the following guarantees:

(i) To be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law;

(ii) To be informed promptly and directly of the charges against him or her, and, if appropriate, through his or her parents or legal guardians, and to have legal or other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his or her defence;

(iii) To have the matter determined without delay by a competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body in a fair hearing according to law, in the presence of legal or other appropriate assistance and, unless it is considered not to be in the best interest of the child, in particular, taking into account his or her age or situation, his or her parents or legal guardians;

(iv) Not to be compelled to give testimony or to confess guilt; to examine or have examined adverse witnesses and to obtain the participation and examination of witnesses on his or her behalf under conditions of equality;

(v) If considered to have infringed the penal law, to have this decision and any measures imposed in consequence thereof reviewed by a higher competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body according to law;

(vi) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if the child cannot understand or speak the language used;

(vii) To have his or her privacy fully respected at all stages of the proceedings.

3. States Parties shall seek to promote the establishment of laws, procedures, authorities and institutions specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law, and, in particular:

(a) The establishment of a minimum age below which children shall be presumed not to have the capacity to infringe the penal law;

(b) Whenever appropriate and desirable, measures for dealing with such children without resorting to judicial proceedings, providing that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected. 4. A variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probation; foster care; education and vocational training programmes and other alternatives to institutional care shall be available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate both to their circumstances and the offence.

• Article 37

States Parties shall ensure that:

(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;

(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;

(c) Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age. In particular, every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child's best interest not to do so and shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances;

(d) Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action.

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• The Herald-Tribune used records to build a first-of-its-kind database of Florida judges, comparing sentencing patterns based on everything from their age and previous work experience to their race and gender. 
• The investigation revealed that blacks are more likely to be found guilty than whites in Florida; they are more likely to spend time behind bars; their sentences are usually longer; and they are not given as many opportunities to avoid incarceration through pretrial diversion.
• Across Florida, when a white and black defendant score the same points for the same offense, judges give the black defendant a longer prison stay in 60 percent of felony cases.
• For the most serious first-degree crimes, judges sentence blacks to 68 percent more time than whites with identical points.
• For burglary, it's 45 percent more.
• For battery, it’s 30 percent.
• The Herald-Tribune’s analysis of the state’s Offender Based Transaction System — which tracks every criminal case in Florida from arrest to appeal — shows that black judges are fairer when it comes to sentencing black defendants in their courtrooms.
• Across third-degree felonies, white judges in Florida sentence black defendants to 20 percent more confinement than whites who committed the same crimes.
• Black judges, on the other hand, sentence blacks and whites more equally. White defendants receive just 3 percent more time.
• Black female judges give out the longest overall sentences, but they also are the most fair. Their average sentences for black and white defendants are dead even, an analysis of third-degree felony data compiled by county clerks shows.

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• Juvenile justice legislation in 2022 focused on steering youth away from formal court processing, protecting due process rights, safeguarding against deceptive interrogation techniques, limiting the use of solitary confinement and restraints, improving conditions of confinement and access to services, curtailing the imposition of fines and fees, and expanding access to record expungement. 

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• This report details each state's good time and earned time laws.
• Florida has no parole.
• Florida has no review for "all" juveniles.
• Florida has one of the highest percentages of time that must be served in the country.

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• Fifth edition of a comprehensive report on youth victimization, offending by youth, and the juvenile justice system. The report offers—to Congress, state legislators, other state and local policymakers, educators, juvenile justice professionals, and concerned citizens—empirically based answers to frequently asked questions about the nature of youth victimization and offending and the justice system’s response.

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STATISTICAL BRIEFING BOOK | Reports | Recent Updates

• FAQs describing the annual number of juvenile arrests, juvenile arrest rates, customizable arrest tables, and age-specific arrest rates found in the Law Enforcement and Juvenile Crime section have been updated to include data through 2020. FAQs describing juvenile arrest rates by offense and race in the Racial and Ethnic Fairness section have been updated to include 2020 data. FAQs about child maltreatment victims and youth victims of suicide have been updated to 2020. FAQs documenting the time of day of violent crime victimization against youth and by youth, and youth sexual assault victimization have been updated to 2019. FAQs about trying youth as adults in criminal court and how States define the purpose of their juvenile justice system were updated to 2019. Easy Access to the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports and FAQs in the Juveniles as Victims and Offending by Juveniles have been updated to include data through 2020.

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