COUNTY COURT JUDGE
COUNTY COURT CRIMINAL
SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT / BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE
201 S.E. 6th Street
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
(954) 831-7240
MEMORANDUM
(Immediate Attention Requested)
To: Chief Judge Peter Weinstein
Administrative County Court Judge Sharon Zeller
Administrative County Criminal Division Judge Mary Rudd Robinson
All County Court Judges
From: Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren, (Division MT)
Subj: BSO Probation Compliance- Court Ordered Reporting Probation
Date: October 20, 2014
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Thank you Judge Weinstein for holding a preliminary meeting on October 17th, 2014, to review several cases in my regular criminal division, where BSO Probation is instructing certain defendants not to report to probation in contradiction of my Court Order sentencing defendants to reporting probation without court notification and/or court approval. (The Court having issued an Order October 2nd 2014, and As Amended, October 3, 2014, banning said practice in my regular criminal division, as noted in memorandum to you and Judge Zeller, dated October 3, 2014).
As you are aware, I was particularly concerned about this situation where the practice was first revealed by a defendant in my regular criminal division, convicted of two separate cases involving a Violation of Protective Order and Battery. (See, State of Florida v. Christopher Thurlow, Case Numbers 14-523MM10A, 14-836MM10A). A case where the victim, on two separate occasions reported violations of the no contact order to The Broward State Attorney’s Office, which (after evidentiary hearing) ultimately resulted in Court Revocation of Bond and incarceration on a pre-trial basis. The Defendant entered a plea, which included a twelve (12) month court ordered reporting probation. On October 2, 2014, this Defendant appeared in my criminal division on a new traffic misdemeanor offense. Note, probation had not issued a Violation of Probation Summary Report and Warrant for my consideration.
Briefly, at the meeting held, Mr. David Scharf, BSO Executive Director Community Programs, acknowledged this practice and indicated it was tied to a risk analysis where BSO Probation, would then determine, on its own authority, how many “doses” or times, over the entire period of a court ordered probation, the Probationer would be required to physically report.
As you directed, a further meeting will be scheduled to review this matter among the Judges. I thought it helpful to provide a brief summary of the model of (Dosage Probation) and I am including a policy monograph for anyone interested in reviewing the same. In accord with The National Institute of Corrections Dosage Probation is an evidenced based model of decision-making, with the following facets:
· Dosage Probation represents a substantial shift from traditional Probation.
· It is a highly complex re-structuring of probation which is based on principals of risk- needs analysis, criminogenics and cognitive behavioral interventions.
· Dosage Probation is largely a prison-based model stemming from recent prison overcrowding decisions in the State of California and other jurisdictions.
· Dosage Probation would be defined as a major initiative, which would demand criminal justice system involvement and concurrence, by The Judiciary, Broward State Attorney’s Office, Broward Public Defender’s Office, other Criminal Justice legal stakeholders, Community Human Service Providers and Law Enforcement. If consensus, this type of major re-structuring of Probation would require extensive system-wide planning, education, training, monitoring and tracking methodology; and local infrastructure development.
I certainly am not aware of any such initiative undertaken in this jurisdiction. I understand that Judge Zeller has requested input from the Judges as to whether or not they are aware of this practice. In an effort to ensure compliance with my sentencing orders and in the interest of public safety, I will be requesting an accounting from probation identifying those cases where reporting probation was modified.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please feel free to contact me if any questions or require additional information.
Copies furnished:
BSO Executive Director, Community Programs, David Scharf
BSO Probation Manager, Pearlie Meisel
Broward County State Attorney, Michael Satz
Broward County Assistant State Attorney in Charge, County Court, Sarahnell Murphy
Broward County Public Defender, Howard Finkelstein