F R O M
T H E
S T A T E
A T T O R N E Y
An d re w H. Wa r re n - St at e At t o r n ey fo r t h e T h i r t e e n t h Ju d i c i a l Ci rc u i t
2019 year in review:
Criminal Justice reform
Continues in hillsborough County
W
every milestone achieved reflects the hard work of our nearly 300
dedicated public servants and collaboration from our incredible
criminal justice partners in hillsborough County.
e continued to reshape our criminal
justice system in 2019. We remain
focused on aggressively prosecuting
criminals who threaten public safety
while finding smarter approaches to
steer low-level offenders away from the system. We have
implemented strategic, problem-solving approaches that
build a safer community
while promoting justice and
fairness for all. I am pleased
to report on the following:
Civil Citation Programs
Working with our criminal
justice partner agencies, we
have expanded the list of
eligible offenses for the
juvenile arrest diversion
program to include family
violence (e.g., sibling against sibling). We have also
increased the use of our jurisdiction’s adult arrest
diversion program to nearly 1,200 citations a year, a
significant increase since 2018. Both programs are useful
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methods to hold low-level offenders accountable while
minimizing the taxpayer resources that would otherwise
be necessary to prosecute these types of crimes.
Victims’ Rights
Our state constitution now includes rights for
victims of crime — also known as Marsy’s Law. We have
updated our victim assistance
program to include these
recent changes in the law.
From victim notification of
court appearances to training
our staff, to working with
other stakeholders, our
jurisdiction continues to lead
the way in providing support
for victims of crime and
ensuring their voices are an
important part of the criminal
justice process. Over the past year, we provided nearly
400,000 victim notifications. Each notification allows a
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JAN - FEB 2020
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HCBA LAWYER