Juvenile Detention Center -  The place where juveniles who are accused of a crime may be held until they go to court or to a program. 

Juvenile Probation Officer – a Department of Juvenile Justice employee who supervises the juvenile case throughout the legal process. 

Plea in Abeyance – Defendant enters plea of no contest or guilty and the plea is diverted to allow the youth to participate in a diversion program.  If this program is not completed satisfactorily, the original plea stands and the youth is sentenced. 

Probation -  A period of time during which the juvenile is supervised by the Department of Juvenile Justice and completes court-ordered sanctions. 

Public Defender – A court appointed lawyer who represents juveniles charged with a crime when the family cannot afford a private lawyer. 

Romeo & Juliet Law - The Romeo & Juliet Law only keeps a person from being publicly registered as a sex offender.  It does not prevent a person from being found guilty of a sex offense.  The Florida Romeo & Juliet Law, which passed in 2007, is designed to protect individuals from being placed on the sex offender registry when they engage in consensual sex with a minor no more than 4 years younger than the accused and the accused has no other sex rimes on his/her record.  The law does not make it legal to have sexual relations with minors, but merely stops the accused from being registered as a sex offender. the youth time to complete each requirement and is supervised by the Department of Juvenile Justice.  The youth’s progress on this plan is monitored and reported at a review hearing held every six months.  If the youth successfully completes all the court-ordered sanctions, the charge(s) will be dismissed.  The youth cannot be supervised on this plan past his/her 19^th birthday.

Safety Plan -  A plan developed with a juvenile accused of a sexual offense, his/her family, and any agency working with them that will give simple, specific, and realistic ways to ensure that the chances of a sexual offense happening in that family are reduced.  Safety Plans should include very close supervision of children in the presence of the juvenile accused of a sex offense.

State Attorney -  The attorney who is responsible for prosecuting the juveniles who are accused of crimes.

Status Conference -  Court hearing at which the defense attorney and state attorney inform the court of the status of the case – whether the case will be worked out or whether the case will go to trial.