State Attorney Worrell wants to change juvenile justice after Orlando shooting

ORLANDO, Florida. – In announcing Keith Moses’ arrest in a three-man shooting case last Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff John Mina made sure to mention his criminal record.

“At 19 years old, he has a long criminal history that includes charges of using a firearm, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft,” Mina said.

But all these accusations arose when Moses was less than 18 years old. He was tried as a minor, many charges were dropped, and in other cases he was sentenced to a year of public scrutiny.

This case raises questions about why Moses was allowed to go so far with such a track record.

Last week, Monique Worrell, State Attorney for Orange and Osceola Counties, laid the blame on a juvenile justice system not designed to deal with juveniles like Moses and urged state legislators to make changes.

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“Our system was not designed to deal with children who commit violent crimes,” Worrell said at a public event hosted by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and religious leaders on Thursday. “So it’s purely based on rehabilitation, and while I believe rehabilitation is the goal for our children, when you have children who have committed violent crimes, we need to put in place programs that will reduce the chances of recidivism, and currently our system is not designed for this.”

Worrell said that under Florida law, neither the state’s attorney’s office nor the court has a say in the program to which a juvenile delinquent is placed or in the length of time he or she is in the program.

“Currently, for our maximum risk programs, you are looking at 18 to 36 months in the maximum risk program,” Worrell said. “This is the worst punishment in our juvenile system. But this is not consistent with those involved in gun violence.”

Worrell said the adult corrections system is also not a solution because the system was never designed to work with children.

Worrell said she asked the state legislature to change that. Worrell said she asked the legislature to do two things: transfer juvenile sentencing jurisdiction to the courts and allow more time for juvenile offenders to spend in programs.

“We need to work on changing the jurisdiction of our juvenile system so that we can extend the time and purpose and increase the intensity of the programs so that we can really make a difference in the lives of these young people,” Worrell said.

To date, no state legislator has submitted a bill to change the juvenile justice system. Florida’s annual legislative session begins March 7. The final draft bills are to be submitted on March 3.

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