Mom of Teen Beaten to Death Calls for Change in Juvenile Justice System

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The mother of 18-year-old Bobby Tillman, who was beaten to death after a house party early Sunday morning, is lobbying for tougher juvenile laws. Monique Rivarde tells WXIA she will campaign for a new law named after her son requiring mandatory counseling for teen offenders with tougher punishment for kids who keep getting in trouble. As for the four teens charged with murdering her son, she feels that it’s too late for them. In the wake of Tillman’s murder, more than 600 people attended a teen summit Thursday night in Douglassville to discuss ways to stop senseless violence in the community. The crowd included high school and college age kids along with school and law enforcement officials, according to the AJC.

Study Finds Drastic Increase in Kids with ADHD

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More parents are reporting their kids have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. The number is up from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. That means 1 million more kids were diagnosed with ADHD over the course of four years. The study, “Increasing Prevalence of Parent-Reported Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Children,” notes that all demographic groups have reporting this increase. No states had any significant decline in the number of children with ADHD.

Feds Say Suspension Overused on Minority Students

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A growing number of schools suspend over 50% of their racial and ethnic students in a given year, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center study. The study, called Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis, found that zero tolerance policies in schools have led to suspension being overused as a disciplinary tool, especially for kids of color. This corresponds with the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice’s public school discipline study across the state, which is underway right now. As JJIE.org reported Friday, Georgia Appleseed is surveying parents and kids in Phase II of its study on school discipline methods in public schools. An early version of the study, called Effective School Discipline: Keeping Kids in Class, showed a high number of minority kids being punished by out-of-school suspension, which adversely affected their success in school.

Alcoholic Energy Drinks Banned by Some States

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Students nationwide have been getting sick from alcoholic energy drinks, spurring several states to ban them, according to USA Today. After nine Central Washington University students got ill, Washington State restricted the sale of products that combine “beer, strong beer, or malt liquor with caffeine, guarana, taurine or other similar substances,” the Seattle Post-Intelligencer explains. Utah, Oklahoma, Montana and Michigan have also restricted the sale of caffeinated malt liquors. As JJIE.org reported this week, the Cobb Alcohol Taskforce is fighting for a ban on alcoholic energy drinks. Taskforce members complain that manufacturers market the cheap drinks (about $3 per 24-ounces) nicknamed “blackout in a can” and “cocaine in a can” to young people using fruit flavors that mask the taste of alcohol.

New Link Between Early Teen Drinking and Alcoholism

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Kids who begin drinking at 14 or younger are nearly twice as likely to be dependent on alcohol as those who begin drinking between 15 and 17. They are six times more likely to become alcoholics than people who wait until the legal age of 21 to start drinking, according to a new report from the Center for Substance Abuse Research. These findings come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The report goes on to suggest that alcohol education and prevention efforts start as early as middle school. JJIE.org reports today on the issue of alcoholic energy drinks, sometimes called 'cocaine in a can.'  The companies that make these drinks often target teens in their advertising.

Four Teens Charged with Murder in Beating Death

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An 18-year-old boy was killed at a house party in Douglasville, Ga Saturday night, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Four other teenagers, ages 18-19, were arrested for the death of Bobby Tillman. They have been charged with murder. More than 70 kids turned up at what was supposed to be a small house party. After parents ended the party a fight broke out outside the home between two girls.

Survey for Georgia Teens and Parents: Your Views On School Discipline

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A new survey to gauge what parents and students think about  public school discipline is being fielded right now by the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. The non profit group is analyzing student discipline issues across the state. They're looking at student discipline data and interviewing a wide range of people connected with schools and courts, including principles, teachers, school probation officers, attorneys and juvenile court judges. Twelve school districts representing a range of geography and economics are currently participating and have been promised anonymity.  JUSTGeorgia and the Barton Center are helping get the word out to families. “We want a broad based and diverse group of parents and students to respond.  We’ve asked a number of stakeholder groups around the state to forward surveys to their mailing list so we can get as many views as possible,“ said Rob Rhodes, Director of Legal Affairs at Georgia Appleseed.

Feds Target $37M to Fight Bullying and Other Childhood Violence

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About 1 out of 10 kids in 6th – 10th grades are getting bullied, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and they believe that 13 percent of kids in that age group are doing the bullying. “Bullying can have long-term consequences for the safety of youth, as evidenced by the fact that two-thirds of school shooters reported having been bullied or having bullied others,” Jeff Slowikowski, OJJDP’s acting administrator, points out in his Department of Justice blog. The Department of Justice has launched the Defending Childhood Initiative, which is a nationwide campaign focusing on children exposed to different forms of violence including bullying. DOJ spent $5.5 million last year and hopes to increase the budget to $37 million in FY 2011.

New Project Studies Kids Transferred to Adult Court

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A new study is underway that focuses on a group of kids we don’t know much about: kids who are arrested and transferred from juvenile court to adult criminal court. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has awarded a grant of $500,000 to Westat Inc., a research organization, to conduct the Survey of Juveniles Charged in Adult Criminal Courts. According to Youth Today, Westat will partner with the National Center for Juvenile Justice to survey states on the number of kids transferred, their demographics and the charges they faced. This may be hard because each state’s juvenile justice system is different and some states do not have data related to kids transferred into adult court.

Taser Used on 11-Year-Old in School

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An 11-year-old boy was tasered in school while trying to get away from a police officer in South Carolina. According to an account in Colleton Today, two school officials radioed a resource officer to help contain a 6th grade boy at Colleton Middle School in Walterboro. When the officer arrived, the boy began to run. She asked him to stop and when he didn’t, she fired her taser. The boy was taken into custody and moved to an office where the taser prongs were removed.