Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/department-of-juvenile-justice/page/3/)
I was thirteen years old when I was called to the principal’s office. As I sat in the waiting area, I could hear two police officers from inside the office telling the principal they were going to arrest me. My stomach got weak and my eyes began to well up with tears. My world crashed all around me. At that moment I wished I could turn back the hands of time - I couldn’t.
When a writer comes along who touches your conscience, you want to tell people. So we are pleased to tell you that Judge Steven Teske of Clayton County Juvenile Court is now writing for the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange at JJIE.org. He is currently sharing stories from his childhood and his life that are filled with surprise and insight. His stories are sometimes funny, often poignant, and always make you think. In “The Good Shepherd,” we hear about the dare that almost got him arrested, and the middle school principal who saved his bacon. In “Making Adults Mad –When Did That Become a Crime?” he reveals what happened when he got his first BB gun for Christmas. In “The Silent Majority” he talks about the unsung heroes who help “crossover” kids.
Communities are turning to electronic monitoring and GPS tracking as an alterative to jailing kids. Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice has been using these alternatives for years, according to Scheree Moore, the department’s director of communications
Moore calls it an alternative to incarcerating youth and another way to help them. She adds that wraparound programs go with this kind of monitoring, such as in-home counseling and sending a behavior specialist to school with a child. Georgia uses two kinds of ankle bracelets: electronic monitors and GPS. Electronic monitoring tells where the child is and if he or she is out of bounds.
The 11 year old babysitter accused of killing a toddler in Sandy Springs will face charges in juvenile court, not adult court. As expected, the Fulton County D.A.’s office made the only decision possible under Georgia Law. The 11 year old is too young to be charged as an adult, despite public outrage over the death of 2 year old Zeyda White. The toddler somehow received a fatal blow to the head while in the care of the pre-teen babysitter last Saturday night. The youngster appeared in juvenile court Wednesday for an initial hearing and remains in Metro’s Youth Detention Center. In general, juvenile court cases move through the system much faster than cases in adult court. As the case unfolds, it will be heard by a juvenile court judge, not a jury. The child will be represented by a defense attorney. If found guilty, the child may be sent to a secure detention center for up to five years, with possible 12-month extensions at the discretion of the judge and the Department of Juvenile Justice, until the age of 21. Also reporting this story:
Myfoxatlanta.com
Examiner.com
It was a chance meeting, but highly impactful. Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Commissioner Garland Hunt struck up what he expected to be a casual conversation on an elevator Tuesday. It turns out the man alongside him worked as a prosecutor in the state and had a lot to say to the newly appointed DJJ chief. “He told me that ‘I know you all want to help out the (incarcerated) kids, but I get to see the victims every day,” says Hunt, who took his post in May. “Don’t forget the victims too.’ I think it was great for me to have that conversation; to be reminded of that fact and to keep that in the forefront of my mind as I make decisions every day.”
Such dialogue – and more importantly creating an opportunity for representatives from various agencies across the state to communicate and collaborate formally and informally – was at the heart of a Juvenile Justice Forum held this week at the Lake Lanier Islands Resort in Buford.
By Chandra R. Thomas
Department of Juvenile Justice School System leaders are recovering from a major disappointment, but also celebrating other victories while working toward maintaining the system’s academic standing. First the bad news: The school system did not get any of the Race To The Top grant money received by 26 other school systems in the state. Last month Governor Sonny Perdue announced that Georgia was selected as a winner by the U.S. Department of Education for the second round of the grants. Georgia is projected to receive $400 million over four years to implement its plan to create conditions for education innovation and reform. The fund is a $4 billion grant opportunity provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to support new approaches to improve schools.
What is Georgia’s definition of a “child” when it comes to crime? The issue came up Monday at a hearing of the state senate’s Juvenile Code Re-write Subcommittee, which is dealing with a proposed new juvenile code expected to be introduced during the next legislative session. Georgia law says a child who is the victim of abuse or neglect becomes an adult at 18. Deprivation cases are handled in Juvenile Court. The same person, if accused of an act of delinquency, is considered an adult at 17. The case goes to adult court. Now a suggestion is on the table to split the issue by raising the age to 18 in misdemeanor cases but leaving it at 17 for felonies.
Four teenage boys are charged with sexually assaulting another boy at the WestCare-Georgia Intensive Residential Treatment Program last January. After a four-month investigation of the non-profit firm that operates the program, the State Department of Juvenile Justice found no negligence. As the August Chronicle reports, the DJJ will not impose sanctions.
Garland Hunt plans to rely on the Good Book as much as his law books for guidance in his goal of keeping thousands of juveniles who’ve run afoul of the law from graduating into Georgia’s criminal justice system for adults. Instead, Hunt, the new commissioner of theGeorgia Department of Juvenile Justice, is determined to see as many of them as possible graduate from the DJJ’s school system, with either high school diplomas or GED certificates.