Florida

Anthony L.:
Anthony was a mentally disabled and hearing-impaired 15-year-old attending West Palm Beach junior high school in Florida. During school hours, he reached into a classmate’s pocket and stole two dollars in lunch money. Unfortunately for Anthony, his school had recently begun a “zero tolerance” policy on crime. He was soon charged in adult court for strong-arm robbery, extortion, and petty theft, and he faced the possibility of a 30-years-to-life sentence. The prosecutor only dropped the case after a 60 Minutes crew arrived in town to investigate the situation.

Lionel T.:
In 2001, Lionel, age 12, was playing a game of wrestling with his six-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick. The unsupervised rough play tragically led to the younger child’s death. Lionel was charged with first-degree murder and was tried as an adult. He successfully appealed his case and reduced his sentence to second-degree manslaughter, but he was still tried in adult court. Unfortunately, despite Lionel’s “rehabilitation,” in 2006 he was arrested and convicted for armed robbery, resulting in a 30-year prison sentence. According to Michael Brannon, a psychologist who analyzed Lionel, this could have been prevented if the criminal justice system had provided psychiatric help to the young child when he was originally incarcerated.

Anthony:
Early in his life, Anthony’s parents and teachers recognized something different about him. Diagnosed with a mental health problem, Anthony was bounced between a total of eight schools, none of them able to treat his condition. At age 12, Anthony stole a car but successfully completed his probation. At age 17, he was charged with grand theft auto and fleeing the scene of an accident with injuries. He was direct filed and charged as an adult. He is currently awaiting placement in a moderate risk residential facility for a period of six to nine months, and after that he faces a conditional release for two to four months. He must put his life on hold while waiting for his placement. He is in a state of limbo, unable to get a job and unable to start his sentence.

Dominique:
Dominique, an 18-year-old girl from Princeton, Florida, is the oldest of four siblings. With her mother dead and her father in prison, she was shuffled among the homes of various family members. At age 16, she committed armed robbery and was direct filed into the adult criminal justice system. She was sentenced to only two months in jail and one year of probation, but according to her those two months were a harsh punishment. Because the youth were separated from the adults, Dominique saw only three other girls during her sentence. When the four girls had recreation, the rest of the facility had to be locked down, so the guards rarely gave them their recreation time. Now that she is on probation, Dominique attends Miami Dade Community College and plans to go to a university to study forensic psychology.