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State Reform Profile

Florida

Florida's mandatory minimum laws drive high incarceration. Amendment 4 restored voting rights and recent reforms addressed drug sentencing.

ALTREFORM COMPOSITE79/100

Key Statistics

Incarceration Rate
478
per 100,000 residents
Annual Cost
$23K
per incarcerated person
3-Year Recidivism
66%
reincarcerated within 3 yrs
Racial Disparity
3.9×
Black vs. White incarceration
Alt. Programs
38
active diversion programs
Reform Initiatives
6
tracked by AltReform

Incarceration by Race

FL Overall478
National Avg568
Black (est.)1,119
White (est.)221

Incarceration rate per 100,000 residents. Racial estimates based on BJS/Sentencing Project methodology.

Recidivism Rate

66%3-year recidivism
This stateNational avg: 67%

Percent of people reincarcerated within 3 years of release. Source: BJS recidivism data series.

Cost vs. Alternatives

$23K
incarceration/yr
vs.
~$5K
diversion/yr

Active & Passed Reforms

3 initiatives

Amendment 4 – Voting Rights RestorationView full details →

Restored voting rights to 1.4M formerly incarcerated Floridians.

PassedReentry2018
AltReform Score90/100

SB 1392 – Drug Policy ReformView full details →

Expanded drug court eligibility and first-offender diversion.

PassedDrug Policy2019
AltReform Score71/100

Mental Health Courts ExpansionView full details →

Added 14 new mental health diversion courts across the state.

ActiveMental Health2020
AltReform Score77/100

Data Sources & Methodology

Reform data sourced from state legislative records, BJS Criminal Justice Statistics, the Vera Institute Incarceration Trends dataset, and The Sentencing Project. AltReform prediction scores (0,100) are generated by our ML model trained on 20+ years of state-level reform outcomes, weighting recidivism reduction, racial equity impact, cost-effectiveness, and political feasibility. Statistics are the most recent available (2021,2024).

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