The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) was created under the Juvenile
Justice Act of 1994 and is responsible for planning and managing all programs
and services in Florida’s juvenile justice system. Programs include prevention,
intervention and diversion, case management, detention care, state-operated
juvenile justice facilities and aftercare programming.
Many crimes by juveniles are never reported to
authorities and many juveniles who commit offenses are either never arrested or
are not arrested for all of their delinquencies. Consequently, official records
of juvenile crime underestimate the scope of juvenile delinquency in Florida and
the U.S.
Pinellas County Youths Referred to DJJ
The total number of Pinellas County youths under 18
referred to DJJ (see below for DJJ’s definition of youths referred) has declined
steadily since FY 2003-04, an overall decline of 31%, with all age groups
participating in the decline. Since the number of youths referred is an
unduplicated count of the number of youths referred to DJJ, the actual number of
juvenile offenses is substantially higher.
Definition of Youths Referred
....."The number of youths referred is determined by counting only
the most serious referral for which a youth is charged during any fiscal
year. If the same youth is referred for several offenses during that year,
only one would be counted, using the most serious offense charged during
the fiscal year."
"A Profile of Florida Delinquency - FY
2000/01-FY 2005/06," Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
In FY 2008-09, 72% of Pinellas County’s DJJ
referrals were 15-17 years of age, 28% were 10-14 years old and less than 1%
were under 10.
52% of youths referred were white
non-Hispanic, 40% were black non-Hispanic and 6% were Hispanic.
Pinellas County DJJ Referrals by ZIP Code
In FY 2008-09, ZIP codes 33705, 33712 and 33711 had
the highest number of youths referred to DJJ, accounting for 22% of the total
number of Pinellas County youths referred. These same ZIP codes, which are
located in the southern portion of Pinellas County, are among those areas with
the highest poverty rates in Pinellas County.
Click here to view a map
showing Pinellas County DJJ referrals by ZIP code.
Comparison of Pinellas to the State and Comparably
Sized Counties
The percentage decline in the number of Pinellas
County’s DJJ referrals since 2003-04 has exceeded that of other similarly-sized
Florida counties.
The trend in the number of DJJ referrals per 1,000
youth population has been declining throughout Florida. Although Pinellas’ DJJ
referral rate has experienced the best overall improvement compared to other
similarly-sized counties and the state since 2003-04, Pinellas’ referral rate
has been the highest of the group until 2008-09 when it fell below Hillsborough
County.
