As Miami-Dade state legal professional, I’m dedicated to conserving our group safe and protective sufferers. My crew and I paintings intently with 37 other police businesses and different companions to examine and prosecute native crimes. Together, we’ve got lowered the crime charge virtually 70% all over my tenure, however we nonetheless have paintings to do.
Our workplace is going through a staffing disaster that may undermine our talent to offer protection to the group if no longer right away addressed. We are down greater than 100 prosecutors and 250 personnel, trending to a 30% emptiness charge and being overwhelmed via a backlog of COVID instances. The public defender’s workplace faces a identical disaster.
Our lack of ability to rent and retain prosecutors and public defenders, and their wanted support personnel, is contributing to case delays. Victims and their households should care for a continuing rotation of attorneys on their instances and are pressured to again and again relive the trauma they persisted, frequently giving up and inflicting instances to be dropped.
Miami now’s the costliest housing marketplace within the United States. Its median condo hire is round $3,000 a month. Prosecutors in Florida get started at $60,000, rating forty eighth lowest within the country. Support staffers get started at round $31,000. These salaries make it extraordinarily tricky for us to draw in the collection of certified folks we need to offer protection to you and your households, in particular since a lot of them should conquer frequently crippling pupil loans.
We don’t be expecting to compete with non-public regulation corporations who frequently get started younger lawyers at $145,000; we merely are attempting to safe salaries that permit our lawyers and personnel to live to tell the tale and serve our group with out leaving for a more-affordable group.
To deal with the issue, I requested the Legislature to: supply an 8.3% cost-of-living build up for all personnel to lend a hand offset inflation; build up prosecutor salaries via an extra $15,000; supply investment for a locality pay differential for Miami-Dade County.
The Legislature already acknowledges Florida’s charge of dwelling differs amongst counties, once in a while dramatically, and offers an additional $5,000 pay differential for Florida Highway Patrol soldiers and Florida Department of Law Enforcement brokers in high-cost spaces reminiscent of Miami-Dade.
If we can not retain the extremely educated and motivated lawyers and support personnel who keep our prison justice device running, our group would be the sufferers. We can not permit that to occur.
HOA, COA protections
More than 50% of Florida’s 22.5 million citizens — 12.65 million — are living in householders affiliation communities or rental gadgets.
Unfortunately, our vulnerable regulations don’t offer protection to them from fraud and robbery dedicated via their governing forums.
For years, I’ve driven to beef up the regulations. In 2016, I requested the grand jury to examine the various issues going through Florida’s apartment house owners and the loss of right kind oversight. The grand jury issued a file with suggestions this is to be had on our website online. In the spring of 2017, I proposed a number of adjustments to beef up the regulations in response to the file, however a lot of my proposals died all over the legislative consultation. Undeterred, I labored with lawmakers at the “Lock Them Up” invoice in 2019, which might have created prison consequences for election fraud, kickbacks and data violations. Unfortunately, those proposals died as smartly.
Following the 2021 cave in of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, I once more labored with the grand jury, which issued a file making a lot of suggestions to offer protection to apartment house owners, together with giving new powers to the Florida Ombudsman. As sooner than, those proposals died all over the legislative consultation.
After we criminally charged the management of South Florida’s biggest HOA (The Hammocks HOA) for his or her involvement in a multimillion-dollar looting of the Homeowners Association in 2022, I labored with state Rep. Juan Carlos Porras and state Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez on a invoice making a Community Association Bill of Rights that gives protections to rental house owners and house owners of houses in HOAs.
While the amended invoice does no longer be offering the entire protections I proposed, it does criminalize kickbacks and more than a few varieties of election fraud, making it a favorable step ahead.
CHILD WITNESS PROTECTION
Too many kids and adolescence are victimized via sexual attack, abuse, human trafficking, home violence and different violent acts.
Florida is one among handiest 3 states that permit protection lawyers to take depositions as an issue of proper in prison instances, irrespective of age or form of crime. These prison examinations will also be very confrontational and adverse. They position undue tension on sufferers in addition to witnesses, who frequently are re-traumatized as they speak about their reviews. Depositions are in particular damaging to younger kid sufferers of sexual attacks and human trafficking.
To higher offer protection to them, I’ve requested the Florida Legislature to restrict depositions of sufferers or witnesses beneath the age of 18, folks with highbrow disabilities and sexual-offense sufferers with out courtroom permission and a appearing of excellent purpose.
This would practice in instances of incest, rape, human trafficking, cyberstalking, kid abuse, pc pornography and different such crimes. By requiring courtroom permission, the courtroom can assessment the possible hurt to the sufferer in deciding to permit the deposition or no longer. We can do away with useless wondering and retraumatization.
All of those proposals are necessary to our group and sufferers. Call your lawmakers within the state House and Senate and inform the to support those necessary proposals.
Katherine Fernandez Rundle is the Miami-Dade State Attorney.
