how to filter String dates in a ireport (jasper reporting)

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Java

I want to filter the values between two dates
in my data base it saves like 12 /July /2014 as a string, and when i tried to get the values from chosen dates to a iReport but it seems there is a problem with date format and in the report it shows all the values not just the chosen dates

This is the code i tried to filter the dates in iReport:

SELECT sent_by, sent_date, recive_date FROM evaluation WHERE decision='Approve' 
AND (recive_date BETWEEN $P{sdte} AND $P{edte})

and this is how i passed the 2 dates with parameters

String strtdte = datechosser(jDateChooser2);

       String enddte = datechosser(jDateChooser1);
       String reportSource = "D:\\completePrintinReport.jrxml";
       Map<String, Object> params = new HashMap<String, Object>();

       params.put("sdte", strtdte);
       params.put("edte", enddte);
       JasperReport jasperReport = JasperCompileManager.compileReport(reportSource);

       Connection c = (Connection) ConnectionSet1.getInstance().getConnection();

       JasperPrint jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(jasperReport, params, c);
       JasperViewer.viewReport(jasperPrint, false);
       c.close();