Jeff Bergosh Blog: Direct File of Juveniles in Escambia County, Part II: What are the Crimes Committed that Lead to This?

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Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Direct File of Juveniles in Escambia County, Part II: What are the Crimes Committed that Lead to This?

As I described in part I-there is a movement afoot to have the Board of County Commissioners step out of our lanes and support a proclamation urging the legislature to end the practice of "direct filing" certain youth offenders into the adult criminal court system.

The BCC will vote this proclamation up or down tomorrow night.

I have met with some community members that are urging us to support the proclamation against direct filing.

The city council recently voted 6-1 to support an end to direct filing.

I have done some significant research into this issue and have requested information from staff about the specific types of crimes committed by the last 20 Escambia County youth that have been direct filed to the adult system.

This isn't a 14 year old shoplifting an apple from Publix, this isn't two 15 year olds getting caught smoking weed, and These aren't 13 year olds stealing bikes from school.. Nope, these youth, the ones that are actually direct filed, have committed (allegedly) some very serious crimes. In the photos below, you will see the last 20 youth direct filed into the Escambia County Jail, their ages and charges. (Although not required to do so, I have redacted their names.) These are serious charges, and this does not include any previous offenses these individuals may have committed....