Seventeenth Circuit Launches Community Court

Chief Judge Tuter presides at Community Court with help from Broward County Clerks of Court staff.

Among their many duties, Florida’s trial court chief judges are responsible for “ensur[ing] the efficient and proper administration of all courts within [their] circuit” [Florida Rules of Judicial Administration 2.215(b)(3)].  In this capacity, they are authorized “to do everything necessary to promote the prompt and efficient administration of justice” in their courts [s. 43.26(e), Florida Statutes].  Branch leaders are continually advancing strategies for improving the administration of justice in Florida.  One such strategy is the creation of specialized dockets designed to address the root causes of justice system involvement. 

The most widely recognized specialized docket in Florida is drug court—a “problem-solving court” concept that was pioneered in Dade County in 1989 and has been implemented world-wide.  But also prevalent are veterans courts, mental health courts, early childhood courts, and DUI courts (currently, Florida is home to approximately 170 of these courts).  Using the drug court concept as a model, chief judges across the state have developed other specialized dockets to respond to pressing needs in their circuits; for instance, Florida is now home to domestic violence courts, gun courts, human trafficking courts, neighborhood restorative justice courts, truancy courts, and teen courts. 

Chief Judge Jack Tuter and Judge Florence Taylor Barner preside at Community Court.

Recently, a new specialized docket was launched in the Seventeenth Circuit.  The idea grew out of Chief Judge Jack Tuter’s observation of a highly disturbing pattern in the courts in Broward County: homeless people, charged with petty crime and municipal ordinance offenses, were cycling perpetually from the streets to the courts to the county jail and then onto the streets again.  Knowing that it costs approximately $140 per day to house a person in the Broward County Jail, he understood that jailing people for non-violent offenses like panhandling or sleeping on the beach is “a very inefficient way to spend tax dollars.”  Nor does a jail term resolve the underlying reasons for a defendant’s behavior.  After doing extensive research to learn how other courts in the nation have been handling this dilemma, and after 10 months of preparation—and with the help of a two-year, $200,000 federal grant from the nonprofit Center for Court Innovation—on January 9, 2019, Chief Judge Tuter launched Broward County’s first Community Court. 

Community Court is designed to “address the needs of at-large, homeless and low-level first time and repeat misdemeanants and municipal ordinance offenders.”  While holding individuals accountable for their conduct, it aims “to address root causes of each defendant’s behavior and to apply a therapeutic and community service-based component to punishment,” states the administrative order establishing the specialized docket.  The idea is to encourage offenders to take control of and overcome their problems, thereby helping them to permanently alter their behavior.    

To function most effectively, this specialized docket adopts a non-adversarial approach to handling eligible offenses (Community Court may address municipal ordinance violations such as trespass, disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace, public intoxication, and panhandling; it may also address state law violations such as misdemeanor drug possession, resisting arrest, simple assault, and loitering and prowling).  Moreover, its success relies on a team approach among justice system stakeholders, Broward County municipalities, and various for-profit and not-for-profit service and treatment centers, both governmental and private. 

With Justice Lawson's support, a defendant makes his way to the vehicle that will take him to a local treatment center.

With Justice Alan Lawson in attendance, the first Community Court was held at City Hall in Fort Lauderdale and was presided over by the chief judge and Broward County Judge Florence Taylor Barner, who heard four cases, all open container ordinance violations.  On site to offer support to the defendants were the following service providers: Care Resource, Sunserve, Second Chance Society, Opportunities Industrialization Centers of South Florida, Florida Licensing on Wheels, and Transportation and Mobility.  In return for utilizing the Community Court program, participants, when they are healthy enough, will be assigned 10 hours of community service in Downtown Fort Lauderdale.    

At this point, Community Court dockets will be heard once a week, every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at City Hall.  Chief Judge Tuter, who indicated that additional locations may be established in the future, touts the strategy “of offering services in lieu of punishment.  The Court's long-term goal,” he added, “is to work with City and County government to find both temporary and permanent housing for those who enter into and complete community court goals.”  If Community Court works as anticipated, it’ll be a “win” for everyone in the county, for recidivism rates of repeat offenders will begin to decline; in turn, overall criminal justice and incarceration costs will decrease, and the safety and quality of life for all Broward County residents will be enhanced.