Juveniles in Orlando will no longer have a record if they aren’t charged with a crime

Orlando State Attorney Aramis Ayala has launched a new juvenile justice policy that would help young people avoid having a criminal record.
Until this policy began in April, law enforcement officers investigating juveniles for possible criminal conduct would submit a report to the State Attorney’s office before prosecutors decided whether to file charges. If the prosecutor decided not to pursue a criminal prosecution, the juvenile would still have a record with the county clerk of courts.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, “Minors accused of misdemeanors — such as theft, drug possession or battery stemming from schoolyard fights — are no longer having their cases filed with the clerk of courts before prosecutors decide if they want to seek charges against them. This means cases that can’t be proven in court or cases in which the teens complete pretrial diversion programs won’t leave young people with criminal records”
Under Ayala’s new policy, called “Project No/No,” if a juvenile is not arrested, they will have no official record.
“In many of those cases, we ultimately determine that we cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Ayala said. “Under those circumstances, there should be no criminal record that follows juveniles into adulthood. We are giving those juveniles the opportunity to have a clean record.”
The same applies for juveniles whose cases avoid prosecution by being submitted to one of the circuit’s eight diversion programs. Previously, even when those juveniles successfully completed a diversionary program, a record remained behind at the clerk’s office. Under the new policy, no such record would be exist.
“As I was working on cases, I found instances where juveniles had official court records despite insufficient evidence to charge,” said Teri Mills-Uvalle, chief of the State Attorney’s Office Juvenile Bureau. “Why are we treating juveniles more harshly than we would treat adults? In the adult system all cases bypass the clerk’s office and go directly to the State Attorney’s Office for review, when the adult is not arrested by the police.”
According the NPR station 90.7 WMFE, “Orange County has the highest number of juvenile arrests in Florida, and black boys make up the majority of those arrests for crimes charged as felonies.”
Reporter Renata Sago, who looked into this issue, said the arrest rate is high because more kids in Orange County are being arrested multiple times than in other parts of the state.
The policy in Ayala’s office changed in April, but wasn’t announced until this month.
Ayala, who is the chief elected prosecutor in Orange and Osceola counties and the first African-American to be elected prosecutor in Florida history, generated enormous attention and controversy after she announced in March that she would not seek the death penalty in any criminal case.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott responded by taking all death penalty cases away from her office and assigning them to a neighboring prosecutor. Ayala then sued Scott, arguing that he exceeded his authority.
That issue is still pending before the Florida Supreme Court.
Ayala Spokeswoman Eryka Washington said the office did not think the juvenile justice announcement would have gotten much attention if they’d announced it in April due to the other issues.

