BRADENTON, Fla. — Bradenton resident Marquis Woodward knows how an arrest record can brand you for the rest of your life.
In 2009, he was arrested when he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I had a lot of job opportunities that I could have taken, that, by me being branded, they didn't give me that opportunity,” said Woodward.
But now, first-time offenders of non-dangerous misdemeanors are getting a chance to avoid this life-long struggle.
An adult pre-arrest diversion program launched more than a year ago in Sarasota County is now being expanded to Manatee County by State Attorney Ed Brodsky.
Brodsky represents the 12th Judicial Circuit, which is comprised of Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties.
“We're giving those folks that complete this program that opportunity to avoid that arrest record,” said Brodsky at a gathering of faith leaders at Ward Temple AME Church in Bradenton.
Examples of the misdemeanor offenses eligible for the program include possession of paraphernalia, marijuana, or alcohol, petit theft under $300, and resisting arrest without violence.
“These programs are having great success, and we are here today to celebrate them and to encourage all state attorneys, each and every one of them, to follow their lead,” said Rev. Bernice Paul Jackson of First United Church of Tampa.
Civil citation programs like this improve public safety by reducing recidivism, saving money for the community and the offender, and freeing up law enforcement officers to focus on serious crimes in the community.
“This is not letting someone off easy; this is making sure that they're accountable,” Brodsky said. “They have a number of requirements: educational component, they have public service work, restitution. There are some fees that are involved.”
The process varies by case but takes an average of a few months.
It is a law enforcement officer, however, who gets the discretion whether to give someone a civil citation or arrest them. According to Brodsky, law enforcement agencies in both counties have committed to using the program.
Counties across the state were encouraged to create these types of adult citation programs, modeled after the state’s juvenile pre-arrest diversion program voted into law by then-Gov. Rick Scott, R-Longboat Key.
Since being implemented, the juvenile program has saved the state $4,500 every time a juvenile was issued a civil citation rather than being arrested – a total of about 57,000 kids that have avoided being arrested and a total savings to the state of $256 million.
This new adult program is already seeing similar results.
“The report on the first six months of the program shows that it has been a great success,” said Rev. Fred L Hammond of Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. “So far, 375 people have been referred to the program. Ninety-six percent are successfully completing the program.”
Faith leaders around the Tampa Bay area have been and continue to push prosecutors and law enforcement to start or expand adult pre-arrest diversion programs in order to stop criminalizing poverty.
“Black and Hispanic people in Manatee County are twice as likely as white to be arrested for misdemeanor offenses,” said Ward Temple AME Church pastor Alethea Winston.
State Senator Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, was present at Monday’s gathering to share his own praise.
“What a win-win these diversion programs are for everybody,” said Gruters.
