Florida S918: Juvenile Justice

What the bill says

An act relating to juvenile justice; amending s. 985.455, F.S.; requiring a court to determine, for any delinquent child committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice, the minimum period of time rather than an indeterminate period of time for the child to remain in a commitment program; requiring that the delinquent child remain in the commitment program until he or she has completed it; revising provisions relating to an objective performance-based treatment plan…

From the introduced text, December 16, 2025:

A bill to be entitled An act relating to juvenile justice; amending s. 985.455, F.S.; requiring a court to determine, for any delinquent child committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice, the minimum period of time rather than an indeterminate period of time for the child to remain in a commitment program; requiring that the delinquent child remain in the commitment program until he or she has completed it; revising provisions relating to an objective performance-based treatment plan; deleting a prohibition on extending a child's length of stay in the program for purposes of sanction or punishment; amending s. 985.465, F.S.; revising the age at which children who have been adjudicated on specified offenses may be committed to maximum-risk residential facilities to include children who are at least 10 years of age; conforming provisions to changes made by the act; reenacting ss. 985.35(4)(b) and 985.565(4)(b), F.S., relating to adjudicatory hearings for children and sentencing alternatives for juveniles prosecuted as adults, respectively, to incorporate the amendment made to s. 985.455, F.S., in references thereto; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Subsection (3) of section 985.455, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 985.455 Other dispositional issues.-- (3) For any commitment of a delinquent child to the department, a court shall determine …