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Appeals Court Strikes Down Law Forcing Parents to Pay Costs of Housing Juveniles Released from State Custody
September 17, 2003
LAKELAND ? A state appeals court today struck down as unconstitutional a Florida statute that imposed costs for room and board on parents of juveniles charged with crimes ? even after the children were released from detention and no longer charged with a crime.
"In total disregard for the rights of a juvenile and his parent, the State of Florida charged a mother to feed, house and provide for her own child, even while he was living at home and even after the charges were dropped," said ACLU cooperating attorney Bruce Howie, who sued the state to change the law.
At issue was a provision of a Florida law that imposes fees on parents to cover the costs associated with housing juveniles while they are in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for a "delinquent or criminal act." A parent can be ordered to pay as much as $20 per day per child. However, the statute ? 985.215 (6) ? provides no exemptions to those fees even if the child is released and no longer living at a detention center. The state argues the costs are appropriate because an accused juvenile offender is under supervision regardless of whether he is housed at a detention center or at home.
In a nine-page order issued today, the Second District Court of Appeal found the law "arbitrary and oppressive," arguing there was no rational basis for making a parent who cares for her child in her own home reimburse the state for "costs of care, support and maintenance" when the state incurs no expense for the child's subsistence. The court also ruled the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by treating juveniles different from adults. "If you're an adult and the state drops the charges, the state cannot order you to pay any subsistence fees, but there were no such exemptions in the law for children in the same situation," added Howie, who serves as the Legal Panel Chair of the Pinellas Chapter of the ACLU of Florida.
In 2001, the ACLU of Florida's Pinellas Chapter filed an appeal on behalf of a Clearwater woman and her son who was arrested in November 2000 and charged with aggravated assault. The boy, who was 17 at the time, was detained overnight at the Pinellas Regional Juvenile Detention Center. He was released just one day after his arrest and the charges were eventually dropped. But, the state continued to charge his mother $20 a day for 21 days, even though he was living with her the entire time.
On March 19, 2001, Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Marion Fleming denied the mother's motion for a fee waiver, saying the law only permitted exemptions for indigent parents. The ACLU appealed the lower court decision on April 16, 2001. In its brief, the ACLU argued the state-imposed fees were unconstitutional violations of the boy's right to due process and equal protection under the law.
Although Department of Juvenile Justice eventually waived the fees in this case, the ACLU continued to pursue litigation because the state statute was still enforceable.
