Violence Forum Unites Teens, Experts

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A scarlet red electric guitar would normally seem out of place at a youth violence forum, but Monday evening the bloodstained instrument served as a symbolic reminder of a young man’s life cut short. Eighteen-year-old Blake Jimerson clutched it in homage to his fallen friend Katerius “Terry” Moody throughout the “Just Squash It” Emergency Town Hall Meeting, an event prompted in part by the murder of the Benjamin E. Mays High School graduate on June 26th at an East Point block party. The 18-year-old crooner was fatally shot during an impromptu performance; four other teens were wounded. “This is the last thing Terry had on him before he died,” Jimerson, a recent Washington High School graduate, told the audience of more than 100 about his friend who had planned to enlist in the U.S. Marines next month. “The blood is still on it.”

The meeting at B.E.S.T. Academy, an all-male middle school in Northwest Atlanta, was touted as an opportunity for Metro Atlanta youth -- and those who work directly with them -- to come together to propose solutions.

Georgia Judge Heads National Council

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Judge Michael Key of Troup County, Georgia was sworn in Tuesday as the new president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges at their annual conference in San Diego. Key has been a juvenile court judge since 1989, and is past president of the Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges.  He has been honored twice with the President’s Award, and was named Child Advocate of the Year by the Young Lawyer Division of the Georgia State Bar Association.  Judge Key sits on the bench part time, and is a partner in the law firm of Key and Gordy, in LaGrange. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has 2,000 members and is based at the University of Nevada in Reno. Read the full news release here.

Playing Football Without a Helmet

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Working with kids in juvenile court is fast moving, intimate and direct...a lot like playing football without a helmet. That insight comes from  retired juvenile court prosecutor Elisabeth MacNamara.  This former ADA in DeKalb County, Georgia says the courts need more programs to help families and children in crisis. MacNamara spent four years supervising  prosecutors  in juvenile court,  and 20 years in Superior Court. She retired last May to become the President of the League of Women Voters of the United States.  She shares some candid and surprising views about the juvenile justice system.

Hall Co.Targets At-Risk Kids

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A multi-agency program focused on reading, self esteem and leadership skills for high school students is in the works in Hall County.  Juvenile Court, the Local Interagency Planning Team and the Family Connection Network are working with community groups to create the Hall System of Care. The free program will target juvenile offenders, truants, teen parents, foster children and other kids considered at-risk.  Funding is coming from a $94,317 grant from the Governor’s Office for Children and Families. Read more here.

Teen’s Murder Prompts Town Hall Meeting

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Eighteen-year-old Katerius Moody was in the midst of belting out a verse of the song he’d penned with fellow Polo Boys singing group members, when bullets peppered the crowd during their performance three weeks ago at an East Point block party. The young crooner, a recent Mays High School graduate, was gunned down and four other teens were wounded before he could finish the lyrics to “We Go.”

The June 26th tragedy, and others like it, have inspired an Atlanta community leader to call an emergency town hall meeting Monday, where she says “frontline” child services workers, local leaders and, more importantly, young people themselves, will get to suggest ways to curb youth violence in metro Atlanta. Atlanta Public Schools staffer Tanya Culbreth contends Moody’s death and a recent outbreak of teen violence during the popular Screen On The Green event at Atlanta’s Piedmont Park inspired her to coordinate the event. Culbreth says she wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of a similar town hall meeting Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed called following the Piedmont Park incident. “I applaud the mayor for calling an emergency meeting, but there wasn’t enough representation there from young people and those of us who work directly with young people every day,” contends Culbreth, the Home-School Parent Liaison for B.E.S.T. Academy, an all-male middle school  in Northwest Atlanta. “We’re the experts and more of our voices need to be heard.

Get Heard

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The National Conference on Juvenile and Family Law is looking for presenters.  If you have a cutting edge program, or something to say about juvenile delinquency, family law, substance abuse, child abuse and other topics of interest to juvenile and family court professionals, you can apply to be a presenter.  The deadline for proposals is September 15.  The conference is set for March 27-17 in Reno, NV.  Send questions to Diane Barnette, Director, Conference Planning and Marketing:  dbarnette@ncjfcj.org. This conference does not pay speakers for travel or lodging, and there are no honorariums. But  the NCJFCJ will waive the one-day registration fee for a speaker, and it does offer a reduced rate for the rest of the conference. To apply, click here.

Teen Gangs in 2008: Stats

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32.4 percent of towns, counties and rural areas around the nation reported problems with teen gangs in 2008. The number of gangs rose 28% over the past six years according to a recent report from the OJJDP.  Gang-related crime and violence, including aggravated assaults, drug sales and firearm use increased. In cities with more than 250,000 people, gang-related homicides rose by 10%.

New Alarm on Robo Tripping

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There are new warnings about the dangers facing teens who get high on cough medicine.  CNN reports that children are showing up in hospital emergency rooms after mixing cough medicines with stimulants, such as energy drinks and prescription drugs that treat ADHD.  The symptoms include hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat and numbness in hands and feet. The Partnership for a Drug Free America reports that 1 in 11 teens admits to Robo tripping.  The high comes from taking very large doses of OTC medicines that contain dextromethorphan, an active ingredient in more than 125 cold and cough medicines, including Robitussin.  Kids also call the practice Dexing, Skittling, and DXM-ing. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says high doses of dextromethorphan, or DXM, affect the same parts of the brain targeted by ketamine or PCP.  These are considered “dissociative” drugs, which make people feel disconnected from their normal selves.  The effect of DXM is similar. Click here to listen to teens describe their experiences with Robo tripping.

School Sued for Handcuffing Child

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A first grader in New Orleans is the new poster child for excessive school discipline.  The boy, identified as J.W., was arrested, handcuffed and allegedly shackled to a desk by school police after arguing with another child over a seat in the lunchroom.   The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a class action lawsuit Thursday in Federal Court, claiming the arrest for a minor violation of school rules is unlawful and a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.   Read the complaint here. The complaint names the elementary school principal, school superintendent and security director, and was filed on behalf of all children in the school.  SPLC Attorney Thena Robinson says, "We’re hopeful this [lawsuit] will send a powerful message. We have to treat kids with dignity.  There are ways to keep kids safe and treat them with dignity." The boy’s father, Sebastian Weston, says his son was treated like an animal is now terrified of school.   Watch his statement in this video from WWL-TV

A spokesman for the Recovery School District confirms the incident happened May 6, and two security officers were fired, but would not comment further.

Normer Adams: Data Matters

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"Anything worth doing is worth measuring," is the philosophy of the Fostering Court Improvement. Fostering Court Improvement is a non-profit organization that uses data to assist Dependency Courts and Child Welfare Agencies in making informed decisions, managing their operations, monitoring their performance and making systemic changes to improve outcomes for children and families. Their roots and founding are in Georgia. Georgia's own Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic at Emory University works very closely with the Family Research Center at the University of Illinois to refine data so that it is usable and accessible to the courts and child welfare agencies.  It is a terrific resource to our State and those involved in advocacy for the wellbeing of children in Georgia. They have an excellent website that has the latest information concerning many states including Georgia. Georgia's data is very informative and complete.  Data is sorted by county, region, judicial circuit and judicial district.  Comparisons can be made relative to how counties are doing in comparison to each other. Did you know that in regard to counties per 10,000 residents that:

Children subject to maltreatment investigations - Lanier County was the highest (55.5) and Webster County was the lowest number of investigations (0).