Youth Charged as Adults Advocacy Toolkit

Florida prosecutes more children as adults than any other state in the nation. Once charged, these youth await trial in adult jails, where their rights to humane treatment and education are routinely neglected. Use this toolkit to advocate for these youth both locally and before the State Legislature.

Issue Briefs

• An Unjust Process with Unjust Results.
• James Madison Institute, No Place for A Child: Direct File of Juveniles Comes at a High Cost; Time to Fix Statutes, February 2016.
• SPLC, Destined to Fail: How Florida Jails Deprive Children of Schooling, 2018.
• Campaign for Youth Justice, Fact Sheet: Direct File, 2018.
• Human Rights Watch, Branded for Life: Florida's Prosecution of Children as Adults under its "Direct File" Statute, 2014.
• SPLC, Solitary Confinement: Inhuman, Ineffective, and Wasteful, 2019.

Talking Points

• Stop Prosecuting Kids as Adults in Florida

Litigation

• Improve conditions of confinement.

Legislative Advocacy

• No Place for a Child Coalition to reform direct file
• Contact your legislator
• Grow local support for statewide reform

Other Resources

• Organizations across the state and country are working to educate policymakers, advocates and Floridians on the unintended consequences of Florida's direct file law and what is needed to reform the direct file system

  • No Place for a Child

  • Southern Poverty Law Center

  • Campaign for Youth Justice

  • The Children's Campaign

  • National Juvenile Defenders Center

  • The League of Women Voters of Florida
     

• Juvenile Justice Information Exchange

• Department of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Profile
  • Filter "DJJ Status" as Adult
  • Use "Data Display" to display demographic or offense data