Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 3-7-17

Features
State Senator Darryl Rouson Visits With Sentinel Editorial Board Before Session
State Rep. Sean Shaw Files Legislation Promoting Prison Diversion Programs
Tallahassee, FL – Repre- sentative Sean Shaw (D- Tampa) has filed HB 641 to promote prison diversion pro- grams for non-violent offend- ers and allow courts to depart from mandatory minimum sentencing requirements in certain situations.
If enacted, the bill would make meaningful changes to Florida’s sentencing laws by al- lowing people who are con- victed of simple possession of a controlled substance or a non- violent second degree felony to be eligible for non-state prison sanctions.
The bill allows for courts to depart from mandatory mini- mums for nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors under spe- cific criteria and would re-es- tablish the Sentencing Commission to provide recom- mendations for offense severity level rankings of noncapital felonies.
“Providing options for di- version and treatment pro- grams instead of incarceration is a common sense measure that will increase public safety while saving the state money,” emphasized Representative Shaw.
“Instead of punishing non- violent drug offenders for their addiction, we should look for
ways that we can help them get the treatment they need to get better. Rather than continuing to send people to over-popu- lated prisons for non-violent offenses, we should be looking for ways to help them become productive members of soci- ety.”
HB 641 would also restore circumstances for reducing sentences based on substance abuse or addiction and amenability to treatment and creates new mitigating circum- stances for certain nonviolent felons.
The bill requires diversion through drug court, residential drug treatment, or drug of- fender probation.
REP. SEAN SHAW
Members of the Board from left to right with the Senator are: C. Blythe Andrews, III, President; Gwen Hayes, Editor; S. Kay Andrews, Publisher; Senator Rouson; former elected official, Ruben Padgett; busi- nessman Wilbert Malphus; and Apostle James H. Howell, Pastor, Cathedral Of Faith Church. (Photo- graph by Terry Clark)
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
State Senator Darryl Rouson (Dist. 19) sat with the Sentinel Editorial Board on last Wednesday, just be- fore traveling to Tallahassee for the 2017 Legislative ses- sion.
Since being elected in No- vember, Senator Rouson says he has held 5 town hall meetings, 3 in Tampa, to hear from his constituents. He asked for patience as he navigates himself through the vast district (District 19) that he now serves.
With the redistricting, the district not only covers St. Petersburg, but a huge por- tion of Hillsborough County – stretching from Fowler Ave., to East Tampa, Ybor City, and the fastest growing areas of Brandon, Riverview, and Apollo Beach. Instead of 140,000 constituents, it’s now 400,000, “but I’m up for the challenge,” he said.
For the last 6 weeks, the ‘Bay Area Senator’ said he has been in committee meet- ings in Tallahassee and com- pleted a 1-day Democratic session.
He said as a former State Representative, you could only file 6 bills. However as a State Senator, there is no limit.
However, he’s most pas- sionate about the criminal justice reform bill for juve- niles – the mandatory diver- sion treatment versus community based punish- ment.
His visit was to allow him to listen and take suggestions
for the upcoming session. Publisher Kay Andrews brought attention to and wants state help with the number of juveniles who are committing heinous crimes and basically terrorizing there own communities, with no shame or fear of conse- quences. She talked about the number of incidents that have occurred in the housing developments her organiza-
tion co-owns.
She also requested a bill
for funding to determine whether the juveniles and young adults committing many of the crimes were given the drug Ritalin when they were very young.
She also suggested the re- turn to Recess for the lower grades and funding for voca- tional and technical training as young as 3rd and 4th grade to begin training students in skillsets that could be benefi- cial later on. She also stressed art, music and sports funding.
Senator Rouson, who has worked with criminal justice for the past 8 years, said he plans to work with the 28 members of the Black Caucus, many of whom are attorneys, to come up with solutions.
Ms. Andrews suggested going after the parents who cannot control their children and taking the students off Riddling that so many of them are on; starting a boot camp; but mainly start in el- ementary school with voca- tional training.
A program Senator Rouson has had funded for the past three years at the
University of South Florida studies the brain develop- ment of youngster 0-5 years old. There’s also a pilot pro- gram in St. Petersburg for 0- 3 years to study the involvement of fathers in the child’s life. He hopes to get additional funding for some projects already ongoing.
He will also be reaching out to the Black media, espe- cially when they meet in St. Petersburg June 8-9.
Board member Wilbert Malphus shared that his church, Allen Temple AME Church, has an outreach program at Broward Ele- mentary the Ministerial Al- liance is tutoring the students in reading and math. The church is also doing the same at Potter Ele- mentary. He also asked about shop classes in ele- mentary grades.
Recess and Physical Edu- cation (PE) should be return- ing to schools this year, as well as paper and pencil test- ing according to Sen. Rou- son.
C. Blythe Andrews, III, asked about juveniles and guns – how are they get- ting them?
Sen. Rouson said many owners fail to properly se- cure and lock them away, they’re left in glove compart- ments and they’re obtained through residential break- ins.
When the session starts on Tuesday (today), one of the bills he’ll be filing will be dealing with minorities par- ticipating in Medical Mari- juana businesses, something he once opposed.
PAGE 2 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017