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.
Rights & Liberties
Rebecca Sedwick Suicide: Two Middle School Girls, 12 and 14, Arrested on Aggravated Stalking Charges
12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick’s suicide in Lakeland on Sept. 10 was the latest of a growing list of children taking their own life after being maligned, threatened and taunted online, mostly through a new collection of texting and photo-sharing cellphone applications.
CSI Flagler: Sheriff Launches Crime Lab and Inks $75,000 Deal With Private DNA Lab
Anticipating the day when FDLE’s crime labs will not be as readily accessible, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investing in a crime scene investigator of its own, a mobile CSI unit, and a $75,000 annual contract with DNA Labs International, a private company, to more aggressively use DNA testing in property crimes.
Senate Proposal Would Bar “Aggressors” From Using Stand Your Ground; Approval Unlikely
Prompted by a national outcry over George Zimmerman’s acquittal this summer in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a Florida Senate committee gave approval to minor changes in the state’s “stand your ground” law. But whether a Legislature dominated by gun-loving lawmakers will ultimately sign off on a bipartisan compromise remains a long shot.
Should Cops Have Power to Track You in Real Time Through Cell Phones? Court Will Decide.
Grappling with privacy rights amid fast-changing technology, the Florida Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in a challenge to police using “real-time” cell-phone information to track a suspect in a drug case.
Fast-Tracking Executions Proves Slower than Expected Under “Timely Justice Act”
The new law designed to fast-track executions in Florida, called the Timely Justice Act, will not spark a flurry of executions after all even as 132 convicts have been certified as being partially “warrant ready” to be killed, perhaps dashing some lawmakers’ expectations.
Florida Voter Purge 2.0: More Complicated and Cautious, Less Brazenly Discriminatory
The complicated new voter-purge process comes after supervisors scrapped last year’s non-citizen purge — the brainchild of Gov. Scott — after learning that many of the voters flagged by matching the state’s voter registration database and driver’s license records were naturalized citizens. More than half of the voters on the list were minorities.
Appeal Court Orders New Trial for Marissa Alexander, But No Redo on Stand Your Ground
Marissa Alexander, a 32-year-old mother of three, was convicted on improper self-defense instructions to the jury, the court ruled. Alexander was serving a 20-year sentence for shooting a gun during an argument with her abusive husband, against whom she had a restraining order.
SWAT Team Deployed Again–For Minor Drug Arrest on Palm Coast’s Pine Grove Drive
Two young children and a middle-aged woman were detained while, for the second time in four days, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday deployed its SWAT team to serve a warrant on a suspect later charged with possession of marijuana, cocaine, and prescription pills without a prescription.
Should Jacksonville’s Nathan Bedford Forrest High Be Named for KKK’s Grand Wizard?
Never apologize for what? Secession? Slavery? How about white supremacy and the KKK? The fight to rename Jacksonville’s Nathan Bedford Forrest High School raises the question, argues Julie Delegal.