Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/georgia/page/31/)
The President, my ball coach, The Lone Ranger, and my fifth grade teacher. These are the answers I got when I asked a few people who their role models were when they were kids. It led me to think about the role models of today's youth. More importantly, who are my son's role models?The obvious choices relate to his interests; Josh Beckett, Cliff Lee and LeBron James. I think he would also answer that his sixth grade teacher was a great role model.
More freshmen teens in Georgia and other southern states are going on to graduate, which has helped improve the national dropout average. The number of “dropout factories” – high schools where less than 60 percent of freshman actually graduate – went down from 2,007 to 1,746 between 2002 and 2008, according to a Johns Hopkins report out today called Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic. Here’s the picture in Georgia. In 2002, 156 high schools were considered dropout factories. Things improved in 2008 with the number dropping to 120 schools.
School boards across the country are protesting federal bullying policy. The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is challenging the U.S. Department of Education on the federal interpretation of bullying as a civil rights violation. As JJIE reported in October, the Department sent a 10-page letter warning schools to comply with federal rules to prevent bullying and harassment. It also said student bullying may violate anti-discrimination laws. The letter sent to schools nationwide said: “When…harassment is based on race, color, national origin, sex, or disability, it violates the civil rights laws that [the Office for Civil Rights] enforces.”
NSBA sent a letter Tuesday to Charlie Rose, General Counsel for the Department of Education, urging the Department to clarify it’s definition of bullying and harassment as a civil rights violation.
If you’re interested in providing community services for high-risk teen offenders, check out a free webinar offered by the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The webinar, called Court Coordination Program: Thinking Small May Be the Best Way to Accomplish Something Big, takes place January 6, 2011 at 3 p.m eastern. The web conference is designed to help juvenile justice practitioners learn how to get the attention of a juvenile court judge and gain public and private agency assistance in helping youth. Click here to register.
Interest in the hallucinogenic drug salvia exploded this weekend when a video of teen pop sensation Miley Cyrus using salvia hit the Internet Friday. Salvia divinorum is a member of the sage family and users smoke it like a cigarette, chew it, or smoke it in a pipe or bong. It’s legal for adults in the state of California, where Cyrus was videoed inhaling it through a bong. The video comes from TMZ.com. Sales of the substance have tripled since the video went public, according to Fox News.
The 14-year old boy accused of working as a hit man for a Mexican drug cartel has become the poster child for a generation of kids recruited by gangs around the world. Edgar Jimenez Lugo, also known as “El Ponchis,” has allegedly confessed to participating in four murders involving torture and decapitation. He told investigators that he was drugged and his life was threatened while he worked for the South Pacific Cartel, a criminal organization linked to 200 murders. Time Magazine examines the worldwide impact of this story which has made headlines from Atlanta to Australia. The teenager is actually an American citizen, born in San Diego, arrested in Cuernavaca. In the U.S. he might be tried as an adult, but under Mexican law he’s a juvenile and will likely get just three years in prison if convicted. People who work with children are disgusted by the case but not surprised. Sister Margaret Slowick, a member of the Sisters of St.
Low graduation rates and a teen crime spree in Atlanta brought more than 100 community leaders and concerned citizens together for the Strengthening Families and Communities Summit Thursday. “We need to give love and support to these kids and educate them that anything is possible,” said Evelyn Wynn-Dixon, Mayor of Riverdale, Ga. She was part of a town hall meeting and her words became a theme for the day. Pamela Perkins, ICM Coordinator of the Interfaith Children’s Movement, led the School Dropout Prevention workshop, where she and other attendees got candid about the problems.
“This has to start with community support,” Perkins said. “We have got to come together and make a cohesive effort to help these children succeed in school and graduate.”
The Georgia Department of Education reports the state graduation rate at 75.4 percent.
Now that she's a crime victim, Atlanta City Councilmember Cleta Winslow has a lot to say about the four teenage boys arrested for breaking into her home while she was at a crime prevention meeting Saturday. "What's happened is that the pendulum has swung in the wrong direction," Winslow said. "One of the teen's parents said their child was at home all night. But, he wasn't. Some of the problems start at home."
When Ally Pfeiffer saw a Facebook page under her own name that made hateful and harassing comments about her weight and appearance, she cried. But not for long. The 18-year old college student decided to find out who was impersonating her online and who set up the phony Facebook account using a cow in place of her picture. Ally tells WFSB-TV how she tracked the IP address and discovered two of her high school friends were behind the brutal prank. She turned the information over to police in Bristol, CT. They arrested two University of Connecticut students, Jeffrey Martone and Sarah Johnson who now face criminal charges. The Bristol Press reports on the simple steps Ally took to solve the crime. The suspects used a fake Gmail account created in her name. She clicked on “Forgot Password,” guessed the answer to the security questions, opened the email and Facebook accounts, and changed the passwords. Then she used a free IP address tracker. Ally talked about her ordeal on the Today Show.
A teenager could face 20 years in prison if convicted of beating and robbing a 94 year old Marietta man. The Marietta Daily Journal reports 15 year old James Glover will be tried as an adult. An 11-year old boy has already admitted his role in the crime, and testified against Glover at a hearing on Monday before Judge Juanita Stedman. The 11-year old was sentenced to two year of state supervision, but according to the newspaper, he’s been released from detention. Prosecutors say the boys tricked 94-year old Paul Smallwood into letting them inside his home, then knocked him down and hit him on the head with a rock.