By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Concerned that the sheriff’s office has altered the terms of misdemeanor probation orders without informing judges, Broward’s top county court judge has called a meeting of judges for next week to assess what’s happening.
By Howard Finkelstein
Special to BrowardBulldog.org
Editor’s note: Broward’s public defender writes to the chief judge to say the county’s mental health is backwards, cruel and unnecessarily costly and urges Broward to follow Miami-Dade’s lead.
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Fort Lauderdale resident Christopher Wayne Thurlow was adjudged guilty last April of misdemeanor battery and violating a restraining order. His sentence: 12 months of reporting probation – that is, to appear personally once a month before a probation officer. But that’s not what happened.
By Owen Mcnamee and Douglas Brawley
Special to BrowardBulldog.org
Twenty years ago eighteen members of a Broward Grand Jury issued a
scathing report that concluded the Broward County mental health system was underfinanced, fragmented and leaderless. They found the system was failing thousands of mentally ill and disabled persons and causing hundreds to wind up in jail or endure forced hospitalizations without needed treatment. Twenty years later, we are still failing this vulnerable population.
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
A Broward Sheriff’s homicide detective who reported that Fort Lauderdale police unleashed a dog on a murder suspect who was in custody and no longer a threat should not be believed, according to a memo by local prosecutors closing the case.
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Since the birth of drug court in South Florida nearly 25 years ago, so-called problem-solving courts have proliferated in courthouses across the country. Now a new idea that would take judicial specialization a step further could debut soon in Broward after its tentative approval Friday by Broward State Attorney Mike Satz.
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