Civil Citation Program Initiative

The purpose of this collaborative program (Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), State Attorney’s Office, Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), Sheriff’s Office, Tampa Police Department, Success-4-Kids, and Temple Terrace Police Department) is to create a civil citation program as allowed under chapter 985.301 of Florida Statutes to address the delinquent behavior of first and second time misdemeanor offenders originating out of the HCPS. Specifically research shows that dealing with low level first time juvenile misdemeanor offenders in a deliberate and timely fashion in order to address their delinquent behavior is an effective means of preventing them from reoffending.

During the last nine weeks of the 2005/2006 school year, a pilot program was instituted in 26 of our secondary schools within the Tampa city limits. The program was extended countywide for secondary school students the following year. Since inception, over 650 civil citations have been issued to our students (451 for the 2006/07 school year and 201 for the 2007/08 school year (August 2007-year to date). We have also seen a decline in the overall school related arrests by all law enforcement agencies. A program analysis reveals that slightly over 70 percent of the citations are issued to middle school students, 70 percent of the citations being issued for battery and affray violations and 60 percent of the civil citation recipients are male students.

N/A

There is no financial impact to the district.

A review of the data will be analyzed at the end of the 2007-2008 school year.