Florida Struggles to Craft Juvenile Sentencing Policy  By:
Margie Menzel News Service of Florida | Posted: October 16, 2013
3:55 AM    As state legislators have tried and failed to craft a
juvenile-sentencing law that conforms to landmark U.S. Supreme
Court rulings, a national advocacy group is calling Florida a
"clear outlier" among states for its hard-line approach to
trying juveniles as adults.   "These tough-on-crime laws are
ineffective at keeping kids from reoffending," said the group's
policy director, Carmen Daugherty. "Florida needs to take
additional steps to reform its juvenile justice system."
"We're chipping away,'' Walters said. "We've seen almost a
quarter-reduction in arrests. We're seeing fewer and fewer kids
get direct-filed (as adults), fewer and fewer kids getting sent
away, fewer and fewer kids landing in the deep end (of the
juvenile justice system)."  According to DJJ figures, Florida's
commitment of low- and moderate-risk youth has decreased by 62
percent during Walters' two-and-a-h