[6] USF's report noted that excluding a 1914 event in which an estimated six to ten white children were killed in a fire, the racial balance of deaths was consistent with the school's overall population demographics.

[7] After passage of resolutions by both houses of the legislature, on April 26, 2017, the state held a formal ceremony to apologize personally to two dozen survivors of the school and to families of other victims.

[8] In 2024, a bill to compensate the victims of The Dozier School for Boys carried by Representative Michelle Salzman and Senator Darryl Rouson was approved by the state legislature and sent to the governor to be signed into law.

Black boys were also punished in the form of whippings and beatings in the White House, but were detained in segregated isolation cells on the "colored" side of campus.

In 2008, in response to allegations of the extreme beatings and torture that took place there, state officials sealed the building in a public ceremony, leaving a memorial plaque.

It was overseen by five commissioners appointed by the governor William Dunnington Bloxham, who were to operate the school and make biennial reports to the legislature.

[11] In 1968, Florida Governor Claude Kirk said, after a visit to the school where he found overcrowding and poor conditions, that "somebody should have blown the whistle a long time ago.

[27] The state officially acknowledged that abuses had taken place there; the White House Boys, a growing group of adult survivors who had been held there in the 1950s and 1960s, were speaking out to the press.

Among other problems, the inspection found that the school failed to deal properly with the numerous complaints by the boys held there, including allegations of continued mistreatment by the guards.

DOJ said these percentages meant the home was deemed to have neither "high" nor "low" rates of sexual victimization compared with the other institutions assessed in the survey.

Since the early 2000s, members of the group began to speak publicly about their experiences to the media, and to challenge the state to investigate practices and personnel at the school.

The whippings were carried out by guards using a three-foot-long belt made of leather and metal and were so severe that the victim's underwear could become embedded in his skin.

[34][35] In 2017, the state officially apologized to about two dozen survivors and families; in 2018 the legislature was considering bills to provide compensation, funds for a memorial and the creation a task force to determine where to bury unclaimed remains found during a three-year investigation.

[36] Crist requested that the department determine: 1) the entity that owned or operated the property at the time the graves were placed, 2) identification, where possible, of the remains of those individuals buried on the site and

The interviews confirmed that in addition to the implementation of the Individual Rating System, school administrators used corporal punishment as a tool to encourage obedience.

The former students were consistent in that punishment was administered by school administrators and adult staff witnesses in the building referred to as the White House.

Although some former students stated that they were "beaten" to the point that the skin of their buttocks blistered and bled profusely, there was little to no evidence of visible residual scarring.

[40] In its December 2011 report of its investigation at the Dozier School, the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice made the following findings about staff at the school, who were cited for use of excessive force, inappropriate isolation, and extension of confinement:[4] The youth confined at Dozier and at JJOC were subjected to conditions that placed them at serious risk of avoidable harm in violation of their rights protected by the Constitution of the United States.

The stories of the White House Boys piqued her interest, as she had worked with international groups to identify remains and burials in areas of warfare.

She thought the specialists at her university could aid the state in identifying undocumented areas of burial by using current technology and scientific techniques.

The state originally limited the USF team to searching the existing, delineated cemetery grounds, saying they did not have the authority to order exhumation of graves.

[29] When the state announced plans to sell much of the Dozier property for redevelopment, Varnadoe filed suit against the action, as he was a family member seeking a specific exhumation.

State officials subsequently granted the university team permission to search all areas of the former facility for possible burial sites.

"[45][46]Bones, teeth, and artifacts from grave sites were sent to the University of North Texas Health Science Center for DNA testing.

A total of 55 burials were identified, but only 13 were made within the cemetery grounds, and "the rest of the graves were outside... in the woods, including under a roadway, brush, and a large mulberry tree.

[50][51][52][53][54] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis directed state agencies to work with Jackson County officials to "develop a path forward".

In March 2014, Governor Rick Scott signed a bill authorizing up to $7,500 per burial for those families who wanted to reinter the remains of relatives identified in unmarked graves at the Florida School for Boys.

In addition, the bill created a task force to establish a memorial, "as well as deciding how to handle the remains of bodies that have yet to be identified or claimed by families.

A proposed House bill ultimately funded two memorials built in Tallahassee and on the former school grounds in Marianna, reburial of remains, and restitution to victims.

[56] In 2024, a bill to compensate the victims of The Dozier School for Boys carried by Representative Michelle Salzman and Senator Darryl Rouson was approved by the state legislature and sent to the governor to be signed into law.