A Times Editorial

Adding to their woes

Making parents of juvenile offenders pay detention costs will only heap more misery on poor, troubled families.

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 2000

As if the parents of kids in the criminal justice system don't have enough trouble, the state has decided to pile on.

Under a new law that became effective July 1, parents of juvenile offenders who have landed in home detention, short-term detention centers or long-term residential treatment facilities will be charged for the "service." Fees from $1 per day for home detention up to $50 per day for long-term residential facilities will be charged parents as a way to recoup some of the costs of caring for their children.

You have to wonder what the Legislature is thinking when it passes a law this malicious. State lawmakers have to know that the vast majority of parents of troubled teens are poor. The more heinous the child's offense, the more likely the parents (or parent) are to be struggling financially. For them to be socked with a bill of $50 per day is laughable -- first stop juvenile court, next stop bankruptcy court.

While the law contains an escape valve that allows judges the discretion to reduce or waive the costs if a family is too poor to pay, that process in itself -- forcing families to ask a judge to forgo the fees -- is an unnecessary, embarrassing trial. It seems every year brings new laws to punish and humiliate troubled Florida families rather than provide help.

What did the Legislature really expect this law to accomplish? For the pittance of money the "care and maintenance" charges will bring in, it's likely the Department of Juvenile Justice will have to spend even more to administer the program. The cost of billing, record-keeping and collection could far outstrip the money coming in.

Of course the Legislature, not willing to wait to see what kind of revenue stream the new law would produce, has already reduced the department's budget by $500,000 in anticipation of the added revenue. But the experience of Pinellas and Pasco counties suggests the fees charged will sit as accounts receivable until they're written off as bad debt.

Under prior law, local juvenile justice officials were allowed to charge parents for the care of their children in the system. Judges in most area counties, including Hillsborough, declined to do so, but juvenile court judges in Pinellas and Pasco counties chose to bill parents. During the first six months of 1999, the counties billed 1,679 parents $470,630. Yet, collections for the year prior -- July 1998 to June 1999 -- were a paltry $40,000.

Families with children consigned to juvenile offender facilities are already in crisis. These parents clearly need help in salvaging the lives of their wayward youngsters. But instead of offering assistance, the state will be adding to their woes. Count it as just another legislative swipe at Florida's poor.

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