Jacksonville Florida Criminal Defense Blog

Police in Florida and throughout the U.S. are required to follow a procedure known as the “knock-and-announce” rule. It applies to officers who are executing a search warrant and bars them from immediately forcing their way into a dwelling.

According to Cornell Law School, this rule is important in a judge’s consideration of how reasonable a search is under the Fourth Amendment, and it goes into their decision to approve a search warrant. Its guidelines are that police must knock and then identify themselves and why they are present. Then they must wait for a “reasonable time,” which is intended to give occupants the opportunity to open the door and allow police to enter.

A large majority of Florida adults can look back at their youth and agree that it contained a rough streak or two. Many can relate to situations in which they were harshly judged for poor decisions at a young age, and some even have experiences in juvenile detention and other correctional institutions.

While setting young people up for success is the goal of many parents, teachers, coaches and mentors, a strict penalty for a small crime is not always the answer. Recently, experts have considered the ways Florida officials handle youth crime, pointing to more effective ways to deal with serious incidents and the adolescents that cause them.

Florida's restoration of civil rights process is designed to make it virtually impossible for convicted felons to regain their fundamental constitutional rights, such as the right to vote. On February 1, 2018, Judge Walker, federal district judge for the Northern District of Florida declared the process to be unconstitutional. As politicians in Tallahassee continue to attempt to suppress the right to vote (see its recent efforts to tally a non-vote as a NO vote in constitutional amendments placed on the ballot for citizen consideration), it is now more important than ever that our federal courts reject these blatant efforts to diminish our voices. This is not a political issue; it is a matter of protecting the fundamental constitutional rights of all citizens in this state. Rather than continuing to discourage, and indeed, prevent people from exercising their constitutional right to vote, this governor and his legislature should be affirmatively looking for ways to make the ability to vote more, not less, inclusive. A copy of Judge Walker's opinion can be found here.

Prison guard abuse is an issue many might assume is no longer common in today's society; unfortunately, however, the problem persists in detention centers across the nation. Yet this problem is often a hidden one, making it all the more complex and dangerous. Families and friends, unaware of various forms of abuse that take place within prison walls, are horrified to find that their loved ones do not receive adequate protection and care. While mistreatment in Florida prisons can take many different forms, the reality that countless prisoners must face daily is one that cannot continue.

While the media has certainly placed immense focus on this topic in recent years, not all observations have proved optimistic. Vice News sees the issue as an important one, but also one that may be difficult to tackle -- prison abuse has become part of a vicious cycle in the country's incarceration system. Prison guards often berate and isolate inmates to unnecessary extremes, which, in turn, can inflict lasting trauma on the victim. Vice also points out the lack of mental health support in prison systems; as a result, many inmates do not receive the care they need, and some even end up back behind bars. To make matters worse, many corrupt guards face no penalties for their actions, despite how damaging their abuse may have been.