Florida State University and Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Research Partnership Project, 2002-2017

JCC: To assess the implementation and effectiveness of Florida's Civil Citation program the following research questions were addressed: What are the historical trends in the use of civil citations in Florida relative to formal arrests? ; What differences exist in the relative use of civil citations across Florida jurisdictions, types of delinquent acts, characteristics of youth, and what explains any significant variation? ; What are the short and long-term outcomes of youth who are issued civil citations compared to those arrested in terms of future arrest? ; FDJJ provided data for the juvenile civil citation project. Secondary administrative data included demographic and offense information on all juveniles within the state who met the eligibility requirements for participation in the civil citation program between January 2002 and July 2016. Both juveniles who received civil citations and juveniles who were eligible but were arrested instead, were included in the data set. Recidivism measures included juvenile referrals and arrests from FDJJ as well as arrests from FDLE for any subsequent arrests that occurred after the juvenile turned 18. County- level data was collected from the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. JV: The following research questions were addressed in the study on the use and impact of visitation within Florida's juvenile residential facilities: What proportion of youth is visited in delinquent residential programs, how often are youth visited, and what factors (such as youth demographics, justice system records, etc.) are associated with the likelihood of visitation and number of visits among those visited? ; Does visitation differ by level of family involvement? ; What barriers exist that hinder family visitation for youth in residential placements? ; Does the geographical distance from where delinquent youth are housed relative to the location of their family's home impact the likelihood and frequency of visitation? ; Does family visitation with delinquent youth in residential facilities impact the institutional adjustment of youth in residential facilities? ; What policies and strategies can juvenile justice agencies use to improve family involvement, through visitation and other means, with youth in residential placements? ; What best practices exist that result in more involvement of families of delinquent youth? ; What is the relationship between visitation and the likelihood of post- release recidivism? ; Does the link between visitation and recidivism differ across gender, race, age, and type of commitment offense? ; The data for the juvenile visitation project was collected through a visitation survey instrument developed by researchers at Florida State University in collaboration with the FDJJ. FDJJ administered the survey, via an online format (Survey Monkey), to juveniles released from Florida residential commitment facilities between August 2015 and March 2017. The surveys were included as a voluntary addition to traditional release paperwork. The survey had two versions: one for juveniles who received a visit during their placement, and a second for juveniles who did not receive a visit. The appropriate survey was administered after youth indicated whether or not they had received a visit. JSBA: The following five research questions were addressed in this project: What are the differences in youth demographic characteristics, types of offenses, and risk levels between school-based arrests relative to community- based arrests? ; What is the effect of school-based arrests relative to community-based arrests on subsequent offending? ; What is the effect of receiving school-based arrests relative to community- based arrests on the likelihood of graduating from high school? ; Based on the overall arrest rates in mainstream (public neighborhood zoned) schools, while accounting for the community arrest rate of the school's student population, are individual schools "over-arresting" students? ; What are the characteristics of students, schools, and school districts that predict different rates of school-based arrests? ; This juvenile school-based arrest project uses a cohort of youth who were arrested for the first time between 2004 and 2009 using data from FDJJ. FDJJ collaborated with FDOE to match the first-time juvenile arrestee cohort with their Florida public school records. The data provide information about the youth (e.g., demographics), their school experiences including educational attainment, and the consequences of arrests for future offending. The project also collected school- and district-level data from FDOE for all active public Florida schools during the 2004 to 2013 school years.