Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/georgia/page/49/)
Attorney Lynn McNeese Swank was arrested Tuesday morning, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. She allegedly forged the name of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Gail Tusan on adoption orders to terminate parental rights. Jim Walls with Atlanta Unfiltered broke the story this morning. More details to come. Full story here.
September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. If your organization is planning events and you want to publicize them, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a deal for you. A free public service announcement, made for TV, comes in two versions. The generic PSA introduces Recovery Month and encourages people to visit the Recovery Month Web site and find a Recovery Month event in their area. The second PSA is customizable so that organizations can add in their local Recovery Month event information. The Recovery Month website has helpful information about how to get a copy of the PSA, how to contact TV stations and cable companies, and how to get free air time.
The Truancy Intervention Project will host a conference sponsored by the Governor’s Office for Children and Families. The event has a long name: Charting the Course: Reinvesting In and Reengaging Georgia’s Youth. The conference runs Oct. 27-29 and features a keynote speech from former Fulton County Juvenile Chief Judge Glenda Hatchett, now star of the “Judge Hatchett Show.” Registration is free, but limited to 200 people. The event is almost half full so sign up here.
The movement to excuse teenage transgressions based on developmental neuroscience may be unwise, according to the Notre Dame Law Review. Terry Maroney, Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, examines the current science, the legal factors, and the role teen brain research is playing in juvenile courts and state capitols where laws are made. Maroney says, “the fascination with adolescent brain science has begun actively to percolate through legal theory, advocacy and lawmaking.” She cites the Supreme Court ruling to abolish the juvenile death penalty as an example. But Maroney warns that neuroscience only makes generalizations about teens, and does not deal with the individual child or the child’s intent to commit a crime. Nor does it factor in the role of schools, families, economic conditions, mental health care and other issues that play a role in child development. She suggests that teen brain science should be considered one source among many for judges and lawmakers to use when making legal decisions about adolescents as a group.
The U.S. Immigration Services and Homeland Security will present a special training seminar for Georgia Division of Family Services employees, immigrant children advocates, social workers, community volunteers, and others who work with immigrant children. Immigrant children who have been abused, neglected, victimized, or abandoned may have humanitarian visa options available that may help these children regain stability, safety, and permanency. This seminar will provide the technical knowledge you need to identify and assist these children. Department of Homeland Security HQ policy analysts will be traveling from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta to present this special training. Details:
SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE VISAS & VICTIMS OF CRIMES and HUMAN TRAFFICKING
DATE / TIME: Thursday, August 12, 2010 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
LOCATION: US Citizenship & Immigration Services, 2150 Parklake Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30345, Second floor Ceremony Room
PARKING: Free
SECURITY NOTE: All visitors subject to airport-style security screening
CONTACT: Joseph.Kernan@DHS.gov or phone 770-508-1862
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that between 100,000 and 300,000 American children are forced into prostitution every year - sometimes through being kidnapped near their homes. Some are as young as 12 years old. The Department of Justice says the average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 13. About 75% of girls engaged in prostitution work for a pimp
Juvenile Court Judge Timothy Pape has a disturbing prediction for Georgia. He expects to see many – and possibly more – of the state’s children getting into trouble or falling victim to abuse, but less being done about it. His daunting forecast is, in large part, inspired by recent reports that yet another massive state budget shortfall is forcing state agencies to slash already stretched budgets even further for the 2011 financial year. According to the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute at Georgia State University, as the state begins its 2011 fiscal year it is facing a potential budget shortfall of between $413 million and $613 million. This shortfall is in addition to the $2.5 billion in budget cuts already implemented since the 2009 financial year.
The internet has become the favorite place to sell women for sex, according to a CNN report. Now there is a national campaign against Craigslist and its popular “adult services” section. Police and anti- sex trafficking groups are pushing to end the “adult services” ads, arguing that underage girls are being exploited. "Craigslist is like the Wal-Mart of online sex trafficking right now in this country,” said Andrea Powell of the anti-trafficking group The Fair Fund. Watch CNN reporter Amber Lyon grill Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, about sex ad's on his site.
Lorraine Fast, along with her husband Joel, directed a creative arts program and ministry at the Marietta Regional Youth Detention Center for seven years. Most recently the couple took the program, called Art from the Heart, to the Paulding Regional YDC. Lorraine has also been a staff member at the Marietta facility. Why did you decide to do this kind of program in a juvenile detention center setting? I wanted to give the youth an opportunity to relax and let their hair down.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation in Decatur is getting a fresh infusion of money from the Justice Department to fight child prostitution and other forms of sex exploitation. A 300- thousand dollar grant will go towards reaching children in trouble and arresting adults who exploit them, according to the Office of Justice Programs.
To emphasize the work that’s being done in the Atlanta area, federal prosecutors released new information about three men who were sentenced and four others arrested for child sex crimes, including these cases:
Former Baptist Minister Gregory Hunter, who got 18 years in prison for producing a pornographic webcast of a 9 year old girl. Former doctor Adam Lebowitz, convicted of child porn and trying to entice a child to have sex
Michael Young and James Lampru,arrested at hotels where they arranged to have sex with a 12-year-old girl
Earlier this week, a 280 page report from Attorney General Eric Holder detailed a national strategy to fight child sex exploitation. The GBI has received other grants to fight Atlanta’s child prostitution and pornography problems. In 2009, the GBI got $1,438,937.00in Recovery Act funds for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. During the first half of last year, the ICAC made 96 arrests and helped local law enforcement with 60 cases. Read more:
Project Safe Childhood
Internet Crimes against Children Task Force
News Release from Department of Justice