Revived Runaway Act, Good Behavior Bill Close Out 2011 Legislative Session

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When Rep. Tom Weldon (R-Ringgold) passed Barton Child Law and Policy Center Policy Director Kirsten Widner in a crowded hallway in the state capitol Thursday evening, he couldn’t resist passing on kudos. “You’ve had a good day,” he said, leaning in with a smile and an outstretched hand. “You’ve had a good day too,” she responded, with a grin and firm shake.  

That exchange, in many ways, summed up the reaction many state child advocates and members of the Georgia General Assembly have expressed about the official close of the 2011 legislative session. And it’s not so surprising.

Georgia Senate Approves Juvenile “Good Behavior bill”

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House Bill 373, also known as the “Good Behavior bill,” has unanimously passed the Georgia Senate.  

“I don’t anticipate any problems,” sponsor Rep. B.J. Pak (R-Lilburn) said, of the measure approved with a 51 to 0 vote Monday. “I expect the governor to sign it into law. I’m very happy with the bill.”

The measure passed through just in time to meet Thursday’s official end to the 2011 legislative session. Formally endorsed by the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and the Council of Juvenile Court Judges, it would allow judges to review the sentences of designated felons who have served part of their terms for consideration for early release.

April Forum Aims To Provide Tools To Help Young Black Males Prosper

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Prevalent media portrayals of young African-American males as violent and angry make Ayo Tinubu cringe, but he can relate. At the age of 16, some guys at school had been bullying him. Finally fed up with the harassment and threats, he and some friends planned to retaliate. They skipped school at North Atlanta High School that day in 1996 then showed up that afternoon with brass knuckles and knives in tow, ready for battle. A quick-thinking school bus driver anticipated trouble and alerted the school principal before any violence erupted.

Update: Federal Civil Rights suit aimed at Alabama Sheriff who ran Scared Straight-like Program

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The Anniston Star is reporting that a federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed against a Calhoun County, Ala., Sheriff who is accused of running a program that put juveniles into close contact with hardened criminals in a manner that is similar to the "scared straight" programs.

The Star quotes experts as saying the way Sheriff Larry Amerson operated the program runs contrary to federal and state law. The suit was brought by the father of a juvenile identified as J.B. It alleges that at one point during a recent visit by J.B., a deputy and an inmate verbally and physically abused him, pushing him and hurling racial slurs at him. The suit says that Amerson later came to speak to the boy. The Star obtained a copy of a video of part of that conversation, showing Amerson  "grabbing and holding down a boy dressed in an orange-striped inmate jumpsuit. The boy, whom the suit identifies as J.B., is shackled and has his hands cuffed behind his back during the incident," wrote The Star's Cameron Steele.

UPDATE: Juvenile Justice Experts Say Sheriff Using Illegal Scared Straight Program

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The Anniston Star has this followup on the Alabama sheriff under investigation by the FBI after allegedly using manual force on a juvenile. A Calhoun County, Al., Sheriff’s Office program for youthful offenders and suspended-from-school teenagers to work in the county jail sounds remarkably similar to programs banned by federal and state law, officials say. Those programs, commonly called “scared straight” or “shock incarceration” programs, became popular in the 1970s as a way to scare or shock youthful offenders or juveniles prone to misbehaving into more appropriate behavior, a policy expert at the Washington D.C.-based Coalition for Juvenile Justice said. But a range of state and national juvenile-justice officials said that years of research have proven the scared straight concept to be in error; those same officials say that such programs are violations of the federal and Alabama laws, which prohibit youthful offenders from being detained or confined in adult corrections facilities. And all of those officials say the description of a Calhoun County program jointly run by the Sheriff’s Office and Family Links, Inc., a children’s behavior task force for the county, falls under the umbrella of those legally questionable programs.

Read more:Anniston Star - Legality of jail program questioned

Read more of JJIE's Scared Straight coverage here and here.

New Comcast ‘On Demand’ Show Seeks To Find Missing Children

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Thirteen-year-old Nautica Baker is considered an “endangered runaway.”

Her family members haven’t seen or heard from her since they reported her missing from Clayton County on July 27, 2010. Since then, her description (a black female with green eyes and brown hair, approximately 120 pounds and 5 feet 6 inches tall) had been plastered on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) website. The Clayton County Police Department has continued to investigate Nautica’s case. A relatively new “first-of-its-kind public-service initiative” by Comcast aims to help find her and other missing children. “Every year, an estimated 800,000 children are reported as missing in the United States and an average of 400 girls in Georgia are commercially, sexually exploited each month,” said Cindy Kicklighter, Comcast director of communications for the Atlanta region.

FBI Probing Possible Civil Rights Violation of Teen

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The FBI is probing potential civil rights violations related to a video that shows Calhoun County, Ala., Sheriff Larry Amerson using manual force against a juvenile male. The FBI has launched a preliminary investigation to “gather facts” about whether Amerson’s actions, which were recorded by a surveillance camera, were a violation of the boy’s civil rights, an FBI spokesman told The Star Friday. The spokesman, Paul Daymond, said the FBI cannot disclose when the investigation began or what sparked it. “In general, what triggers a civil rights investigation, that could be a newspaper article, that could be a victim coming forward, it could be a number of things,” Daymond said. The video was first published by The Anniston Star after a source requesting anonymity gave it to the newspaper Wednesday.

Sex Trafficking Bill Clears Senate With Unanimous Vote

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The Georgia Senate’s unanimous vote in support of the human trafficking bill that toughens the penalty for sex traffickers and seeks to improve outcomes for victims is an historic victory, state child advocates say. “To have legislation written and passed in the same session is amazing and seems historic,” gushes Street GRACE Executive Director Cheryl DeLuca Johnson. “This is huge! The leadership of [lead sponsor] Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta) and [supporter] Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Gwinnett) was invaluable to this process.”

Julianna McConnell agrees. “I’ve been a lobbyist for 20 years and this is probably one of the most fulfilling moments of my career,” says McConnell, Street GRACE advocacy chairperson.

Prevent Child Abuse Georgia Closure A Devastating Blow, Advocates Say

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The recent abrupt closure of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia – a non-profit child welfare organization with a 25-plus year history – is a devastating setback for efforts to protect abused and neglected kids, many local advocates say. “The closure of PCA GA leaves two gaps in our community, one being the loss in regards to community education,” said Pat Willis, executive director of Voices for Georgia’s Children. “This organization did so much to raise awareness and to provide community support to prevent the abuse and neglect of children in our state. The other, quite frankly, is in regards to community support. Whenever we lose a non-profit that was such a stalwart for children it raises the question, ‘Are we as a community doing all that we can to support efforts to protect children in our state?’”

Former PCA GA Program Specialist and Training Manager Anna Curtis announced its untimely demise in a tersely-written email time-stamped 10:50 p.m. Wednesday, March 16.

Foster Care Meds Bill Spirit Lives On In New Pilot Program

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A bill aimed at preventing the overmedication of Georgia’s foster children might be dead this legislative session, but the spirit of the legislation lives on in a new a pilot program underway, its sponsor says. House Bill 23, the Foster Children’s Psychotropic Medication Monitoring Act, did not make last week’s critical “Crossover Day” deadline to advance to the state Senate, but Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) has confirmed that Casey Family Programs has stepped in to help assess the problem that the measure sought to address. The Seattle-based national foundation is funding a review of prescription patterns of psychotropic drugs for children in Georgia’s foster care system. The effort comes on the heels of a state Supreme Court report that found many children in state custody for extended periods are prescribed psychotropic drugs at “alarmingly high rates.” Casey has not yet disclosed the amount of money earmarked for the program that unofficially began in February. The Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University Law School will operate the program, in partnership with the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) and other community partners.