Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog

Every state has developed a mechanism to try juvenile offenders on adult charges. According to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, 3.7% of juvenile offenders in the state were transferred to adult criminal court. While that sounds like a small percentage, it has risen substantially in the past couple of years. Florida criminal defense attorneys have noticed a steady rise in the number of juveniles arrested and then certified as adults. Last year, 3,408 different juveniles faced adult charges in the state of Florida.

Broward County criminal attorneys know that trying teens as adults used to be uncommon, but after a spike in violent youth crime in the late 1980s and early 1990s, states scrambled to find ways to implement harsher sentencing for the youngest offenders. The mantra “adult time for adult crimes” resonated, especially as more school shootings occurred. Arkansans were horrified when an 11-year-old and 13-year-old stormed their Jonesboro middle school with guns in 1998, killing five – especially when it became apparent that the state could not hold them beyond age 21. This concern was not unwarranted. Shortly after he was released, the public learned that the Mitchell Johnson, the older boy, was sharing an apartment with another notorious Arkansas juvenile murderer. The school shooters can even legally buy guns if they so choose. Arkansas now has a law which allows for combined juvenile and adult sentencing for very serious crimes committed by young people.

When a juvenile is arrested for a crime, it triggers delinquency proceedings. Delinquency is the juvenile equivalent of criminal. The prosecutor may decide to file adult charges instead of juvenile. The prosecutor will weigh the severity of the crime and the child’s age when making that decision. The juvenile will receive a waiver hearing, where a judge will determine if it is in fact appropriate for the juvenile to face adult charges. The juvenile’s criminal defense attorney will typically argue to keep the case in juvenile court. If the juvenile is tried and convicted in adult criminal court, the judge will take into account the youth of the offender when determining sentencing.

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Sometimes, police officers in Fort Lauderdale and all around Florida stop people on the street to ask a few questions or to request identification. Even if that has never happened to you, chances are, you have been pulled over in your car by the police at some point. Criminal defense lawyers and police officers refer to these encounters as Terry stops, after the 1968 Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio. In that case, the Court held that the police can stop a citizen to search him for weapons when they reasonably believe the person is involved in criminal activity.

As criminal defense attorneys, we see various types of citizen encounters by police on a day to day basis. Police officers acting on a hunch are often quick to forget about an individual’s rights and this is where we encounter problems. Attorneys must always thoroughly examine the facts of their client’s case and move for a motion to suppress whenever feasible.

In order for a police officer to make a Terry stop, his suspicion about the person’s criminal activity must be based upon specific facts rather than the officer’s feelings, prejudices, or hunches. For instance, the officer could stop someone who closely matched a description of a burglar in the area half an hour after a burglary occurred, but could not detain a person who he thinks just looks like he is “up to no good” because of his race or clothing. The officer must have a real reason he could explain to a court why he thinks you might be involved in a crime that has been, will be, or is being committed. The standard for police to search you based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity is less than the probable cause standard needed for the police to arrest you.

If the officer has reasonable suspicion, he is allowed to stop you and frisk you over your clothes. The frisk is only to make sure you are not armed, for the officer’s own safety and the safety of any bystanders. The purpose is to search you only for weapons. However, if the officer finds drugs or other illegal items on your person while frisking you, those discoveries may be used against you in court in some situations. If the officer could tell it was an illegal item from how it felt when he frisked you, the officer may remove the item and it could be used against you. The officer cannot look in tiny pockets where you could not fit a weapon. Likewise, in your car, he can only search the interior and not the glove compartment or the trunk. Remember, these rules only apply to Terry stops and not in other situations, like an arrest or a search based on probable cause, where the officer would need to have more reason to believe a crime was committed.

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