State Attorney Fernandez Rundle believes in a community and victim-centered approach. She has created a number of units and programs that assist victims of crime and ensure they are given the information, resources, and services they deserve and need, beyond, those mandated by Florida law.

State Attorney Fernandez Rundle prioritizes violent crimes prosecutions and has implemented a number of innovative strategies to better protect the community. In 1997, she partnered with multiple police agencies to create the Gang Strike Force (GSF). Gang prosecutors, detectives, and agents, investigate and prosecute the most dangerous gang members and street gangs. In 2016, she partnered with the Northside neighborhood, Miami-Dade, Miami Gardens, and City of Miami’s Police Departments to create the Gun Violence Initiative (GVU) that provides special protections to some of our community’s most vulnerable residents. The program is so successful, that she expanded it to Miami Gardens in 2019. GVU prosecutors, and homicide investigators facilitate successful investigations and prosecutions by building relationships with residents, gathering intelligence, responding to the scenes of all contact shootings, helping to locate and secure the attendance of victims and other essential witnesses, and assisting line prosecutors with other shooting cases in court. She also pioneered the fight against the sex trafficking of our children through her Human Trafficking Task Force, a cooperative multi-agency law enforcement effort aimed at arresting and prosecuting those who prey on our children and youth while finding ways to rescue these traumatized victims with a safety net of services. As Florida’s only State Attorney that enforces child support, she has collected over $1.7 billion dollars in the last 10 years for our children and their families.
State Attorney Fernandez Rundle works hard to understand and address our community’s changing needs. Recognizing the rising number of crimes committed against the elderly and vulnerable adults, she formed a joint public-private task force to better protect them. After the Champlain Towers collapsed in 2021, killing 98 people, she dispatched a Chief Assistant and seven victim witness counselors to the scene and advocated for legislation to ensure it never happens again. After hearing from the community about rising fraud by home and condominium associations, she worked with the Grand Jury to recommend reforms, created a unit to prosecute these fraudsters authored and advocated for legislation to promote transparency, investigations, and prosecutions.

Finally, State Attorney Fernandez Rundle recognizes that preventing crime is critical to her mission. She has implemented numerous ground-breaking innovations that strategically divert low-level offenders who do not threaten public safety from the traditional criminal justice system. In 1989, she conceived of and helped implement the nation’s first Drug Court, leading to a national movement. Since that time, she has implemented or helped develop civil citations, her Second Chance Program that provides monthly Sealing and Expungement opportunities, and more. Research consistently shows that these programs address the participants’ criminogenic needs, save tax dollars, and reduce recidivism and victimization.

State Attorney Fernandez Rundle has received dozens of awards and is a Member of Florida’s Women’s Hall of Fame. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and both her post-graduate and law degrees from the University of Cambridge Law School in England.