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Legislation requiring every county to issue civil citations to juveniles first arrest for a non violent misdemeanor squeaked through a House committee today over the opposition of law enforcement. First approved in 2010, the citations are optional for police, but seven counties have issued none. The Reverend Bernice Powell Jackson told lawmakers the current system leads to unfair treatment.

“In Hillsborough County, for instance,  we had a young man who was arrested for an offense that if he had lived in Pinellas County right across the bay, he would not have. He would have received a civil citation. So thats not fair, thats not equity in our justice system” says Powell Jackson.

Prosecutors, Sheriffs, and Police Chiefs objected to the mandatory nature of the bill. They were promised more flexibility before the legislation comes up in a second committee.