Kids – Not Parents – Get to Call the Shots in Court Under New Code

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Parents are not always the best advocates for children charged with crimes. In fact, parents may be uninvolved, absent, or even hostile, experts told state senators as they discussed proposed changes to Georgia’s juvenile code. Some of those experts were young people who’ve been through the juvenile justice system. They are identified by first names only:

Giovan, 20, was only 11 months old when he entered foster care. By 12, he was also in the juvenile justice system, declared unruly for cursing at foster parents he says repeatedly told him he was worth nothing.

Delinquent Kids: Focus of New Senate Hearing

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How judges handle delinquent kids could change under proposals for a new juvenile code in Georgia. SB292, Article 7 focuses on kids who’ve committed acts that would be considered crimes if they were adults. Read SB292 here

Read Article 7 of the Proposed Model Code

Julia Neighbors of JUSTGeorgia tells me, “This article will primarily effect defense attorneys, district attorneys and superior court judges.” Article 7 will allow attorneys to access more of a child’s information as well as give superior court judges other options aside from detention. Article 7 fundamentally works to separate “unruly” kids from “delinquent” kids.  Delinquent kids now have alternatives of their own, such as the option to request bail. The Senate Judiciary Committee takes up these changes on September 30th at 2pm in the Capitol, room 450.

Long road to new Juvenile Code

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The next session of the Georgia General Assembly is months away but advocates are busy polishing a major bill that could affect children and their families across the state. In fact, they’ve been working on this legislation—a complete revamp of the state’s juvenile code—since 2004. A new code, the first in four decades, was introduced in 2009 as The Child Protection and Public Safety Act but failed to make it to the floor for a vote by the end of the two-year legislative term. To be considered in the term that begins next January, it must be reintroduced.   Its supporters want to make sure it’s in good shape.  “Our goal is to work through the 2009 bill as a draft,” said Kirsten Widner, director of policy and advocacy at the Barton Child Law & Policy Center at Emory University, “and to have an edited version for the next legislative session.”

“We’re going to take the opportunity to make some technical changes and changes all the stakeholders can agree to,” said Mindy Binderman, director of government affairs and advocacy of Voices for Georgia’s Children, a policy advocacy group. A hearing on the proposed code is set for June 28 at the Capitol.  More meetings and hearings are expected over the summer.