Judge Steve Teske: The Blame Game – The Winner Loses and The Kids are Hurt

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It was 1999, I was recently appointed to the juvenile bench, and we had a new presiding judge. A meeting was called to discuss the direction of the court.   Among several issues, we were concerned about the number of complaints filed by School Resource Officers (SRO) and decided to meet with the Chief of Police to discuss other alternatives to filing complaints.  We were prepared for the meeting. We had data reflecting an increase in referrals by over 1,000 percent since the inception of the SRO program in the mid nineties.  The data was broken down by offenses and most were misdemeanors primarily involving school fights, disorderly conduct, and disrupting public school.

Vote for the Best Teen Video on Underage Drinking

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High schoolers have produced some pretty creative videos about underage drinking and parent responsibilities. They are posted on  SchoolTube.  The Cobb Alcohol Taskforce is sponsoring a Youth PSA Contest and it’s time for you to vote for your favorite one. The video with the highest number of views will win a $300 prize. There will also be a runner up and a third place winner. Some of these teens have pulled out all the stops.

Why Kids End Up In Jail And What They Have In Common

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About 20 percent of kids in jail are there because of a violent crime and about 69 percent of those kids say they knew their victims. In addition, 44 percent of incarcerated youth were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when committing an offense and about 55 percent committed their current offense with someone else. This information comes from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which released its latest bulletin called Youth Characteristics and Backgrounds that focuses on the characteristics of young people in jail to better understand the reasons why they’ve offended. The Office looked extensively at jailed kids between 10 and 20 years old. Here are some other fascinating facts:

Although boys on average commit more serious offenses like murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery, girls have been arrested more than boys in the past decade. The majority of kids locked up (51 percent) are 16 or 17 years old.

Steve Reba: Return of Silence

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There was no banner, no cake, and nobody waiting to cheer when he walked in the door. He simply entered the sparsely furnished, one-room apartment and placed his duffle bag on the bed. He rested his head on the mattress and felt pleasantly alone in the silence. The small studio apartment above the back garage of this neighborhood home was arranged by a volunteer who fundamentally changed his course in prison. In year four of thirteen, after spending over nine months in the hole, she came to him.

Hundreds of Young People March on Washington

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Hundreds of young people from Virginia and several other states are rallying in Washington, D.C. today to urge President Obama and Congress to pass legislation that protects children in the juvenile justice system. “Children as young as 14 can be tried as adults in Virginia courts, which is counterproductive,” Liane Rozzell, executive director of Families & Allies of Virginia’s Youth, told the Public News Service. The Justice Policy Institute says the majority of kids in juvenile detention are being held for nonviolent offenses and could be managed safely in the community. The protesters are advocating laws that rely less on putting young people behind bars and more on local and community-based programs.

The Community Justice Network for Youth is also hosting a national conference in D.C. today, according to the Center for Media Justice. Today’s events will launch the Network’s “Week of Action,” to push for reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).

MOM on a Mission: Locking up the Nutmeg

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Who moved my nutmeg? Numerous parents may find themselves asking that question this holiday season. Baking scrumptious treats laden with cinnamon and nutmeg is a favorite tradition in many households. Those of you familiar with the spice know that it can be purchased whole and grated into recipes, or pre-ground as a course, grainy powder. What in the world does this holiday cooking lesson have to do with kids, you ask?

Deal Taps Reese as Next DHS Commissioner

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Governor – elect Nathan Deal has nominated Clyde Reese to run the Department of Human Services.   The announcement came Friday afternoon, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Clyde Reese is an attorney and currently serves as Commissioner of Community Health, which administers Medicaid, Peachcare and the State Health Benefit Plan. He was appointed to the post last April by Governor Sonny Perdue.   The DCH website describes Reese as a health care regulatory and administrative law specialist. He’s also been General Counsel for the State Health Planning Agency, and an Assistant Attorney General.

Cobb County Juvenile Court Move on Hold for Now

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A plan to relocate Juvenile Court operations in Cobb County to the Superior Courthouse is not likely to happen any time soon.  According to the Marietta Daily Journal, the county doesn’t have the $2.2 million needed to make the move. Juvenile Court is currently located in a renovated warehouse. It was scheduled to move to the 5th and 6th floors of the old courthouse building in Marietta next year.  The space will be available once construction is finished on the new Courthouse building. The Board of Commissioners will consider a special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) to fund the juvenile court move, along with other projects.  As MDJonline.com reports, they could decide next week whether to put it to the voters in March. Courthouse construction has been a hot issue for months in Cobb.  Last summer, a watchdog group called Jobs for Georgians called on the county to do background and security checks on 760 construction workers at the new court site.  As a result, the AJC reports two illegal immigrants were arrested, along with eight other workers who had outstanding warrants.

Common Strategies Actually Do Prevent Teenage Drinking

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Changing the environment of teen parties and places where alcohol is sold can go a long way to stop young people from drinking, according to a new study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The study looked at fourteen large public universities in California between 2003 and 2006. After finding that heavy drinking at off-campus parties was a common problem, tough new policies were put in place and enforced at half the universities, while the other schools were monitored for comparison. Universities that really focused on these strategies had the highest degree of success. Here’s what they used:

Nuisance party enforcement operations.

Free Online Course Teaches Ways to Stop Alcohol Sales to Teens

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There’s a new, online training course on how to reduce underage alcohol sales by conducting compliance investigations of alcohol retailers. The course is free and offered by Fox Valley Technical College's Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center. The course, Conducting Compliance Check Operations, is four hours long and provides rationales for investigating establishments that sell alcohol. If you take the course, you’ll be able to:

Understand issues related to underage drinking and how retailers make alcohol available to teens. Implement step-by-step guidelines for carrying out compliance investigations.