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In Florida, Your Kid’s Chance of Arrest at School Depends on Where You Live

After a student was caught cutting class at Seminole High School’s ninth grade center in April 2019, a trio of Sanford police officers told the girl to get in a golf cart so she could be taken back to campus. She refused. “I’m…
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A 6-Year-Old Had Her Hands Zip-Tied at School. Florida House Passes on Setting a Minimum Age for Arresting Kids

Florida likely won’t be setting a minimum age for arresting children, despite national outrage over a 6-year-old who had her hands zip-tied at school after she threw a temper tantrum. The Florida House took up the issue…
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Legislation Limiting Restraint and Forbidding Seclusion in Schools Heads to Final Committee Stop

Lawmakers appear closer than ever to passing legislation ending restraining and secluding children with special needs at school. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education approved the bill (SB 1644), sponsored by Sen. Lauren Book,…
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Jennifer Webb Files Legislation to Curb ‘Unnecessary’ Baker Acts in Florida Schools

Rep. JenniferWebb is responding to recent reports of children being sometimes unnecessarily removed from school under Florida’s Baker Act over incidents school officials or law enforcement officers deem unsafe to the student or others. Webb’s…
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Florida’s Flawed Baker Act Rips Thousands of Kids from School

Over the past seven years, children have been taken from public schools in Tampa Bay more than 7,500 times and temporarily placed in mental health facilities. They often leave campus handcuffed in the back of police cruisers. Some are as…
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She Didn’t Know Her Autistic Son Could Be Tasered at School

Two years ago, at the start of the school year, Rosie Phillips got a call from her son’s school, asking her to come pick him up. When she arrived, she found him slumped on the hallway floor, sitting in a puddle of his own urine, with a Taser…
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School Cop Arrested After Video Shows Him Grabbing Girl by the Neck and Slamming Her to the Floor

A school resource deputy was arrested Tuesday on a child abuse charge after he was seen on school surveillance video grabbing a 15-year-old girl by the neck and slamming her to the ground. Deputy Willard Miller, 38, turned…
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Parents Say 10-Year-Old Son with Autism was Handcuffed, Put in Patrol Car

Parents of a 10-year-old boy who has autism say the child was handcuffed, put in the back of a patrol car and transported to a mental health facility after he ran from school administrators. According to a federal lawsuit…
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Fired Orlando Cop Who Arrested 6-Year-Olds Has Discipline History That Includes Excessive Force, Profiling Claim

The Orlando police officer who was fired Monday for arresting two 6-year-old students at their school has a disciplinary history that includes an incident in which he stunned a trespassing suspect with a Taser five times and an allegation…
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PD9 Hosts Its Annual Law Camp with the Boys and Girls Club

This summer, Robert Wesley, Public Defender of the Ninth Circuit, partnered with Dr. Candice Bridge from the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the National Center for Forensic Science (NCFS) to provide a Forensic Science Law Camp for the…
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PD9 Hosts Its Annual Law Camp with the Boys and Girls Club

The Office of the Public Defender for the Ninth Judicial Circuit hosted its annual Law Camp for the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida. View more photos  below.
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Prosecutors Drop Charge Against 10-Year-Old Boy Accused of Hitting Classmate in Face with Ball

Prosecutors in Michigan have decided to drop their charge against a 10-year-old boy who was accused of throwing a ball at another child's face during a game on a school playground. The 10-year-old boy, Bryce, was scheduled to appear in juvenile…