Mom of Teen Beaten to Death Calls for Change in Juvenile Justice System

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The mother of 18-year-old Bobby Tillman, who was beaten to death after a house party early Sunday morning, is lobbying for tougher juvenile laws. Monique Rivarde tells WXIA she will campaign for a new law named after her son requiring mandatory counseling for teen offenders with tougher punishment for kids who keep getting in trouble. As for the four teens charged with murdering her son, she feels that it’s too late for them. In the wake of Tillman’s murder, more than 600 people attended a teen summit Thursday night in Douglassville to discuss ways to stop senseless violence in the community. The crowd included high school and college age kids along with school and law enforcement officials, according to the AJC.

Study Finds Drastic Increase in Kids with ADHD

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More parents are reporting their kids have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. The number is up from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. That means 1 million more kids were diagnosed with ADHD over the course of four years. The study, “Increasing Prevalence of Parent-Reported Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Children,” notes that all demographic groups have reporting this increase. No states had any significant decline in the number of children with ADHD.

Feds Say Suspension Overused on Minority Students

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A growing number of schools suspend over 50% of their racial and ethnic students in a given year, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center study. The study, called Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis, found that zero tolerance policies in schools have led to suspension being overused as a disciplinary tool, especially for kids of color. This corresponds with the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice’s public school discipline study across the state, which is underway right now. As JJIE.org reported Friday, Georgia Appleseed is surveying parents and kids in Phase II of its study on school discipline methods in public schools. An early version of the study, called Effective School Discipline: Keeping Kids in Class, showed a high number of minority kids being punished by out-of-school suspension, which adversely affected their success in school.

Alcoholic Energy Drinks Banned by Some States

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Students nationwide have been getting sick from alcoholic energy drinks, spurring several states to ban them, according to USA Today. After nine Central Washington University students got ill, Washington State restricted the sale of products that combine “beer, strong beer, or malt liquor with caffeine, guarana, taurine or other similar substances,” the Seattle Post-Intelligencer explains. Utah, Oklahoma, Montana and Michigan have also restricted the sale of caffeinated malt liquors. As JJIE.org reported this week, the Cobb Alcohol Taskforce is fighting for a ban on alcoholic energy drinks. Taskforce members complain that manufacturers market the cheap drinks (about $3 per 24-ounces) nicknamed “blackout in a can” and “cocaine in a can” to young people using fruit flavors that mask the taste of alcohol.

Update: Hyper-Texting Teens Linked to Sex, Stress, Binge Drinking

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Some teenagers who text more than 120 times a day and spend hours using social media may be more likely to have sex, drink a lot, smoke and feel more stress.  Researchers at Case Western Reserve University are studying the link between heavy use of communication technology and risky behavior that can affect kids’ health. Dr. Scott Frank presented a study at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Denver.  Dr. Frank teaches at Case, he’s a family physician, director of a local health department and a substance abuse prevention group.  He surveyed 4,257 teenagers at 20 high schools in the Cleveland Ohio area. Click here to read the abstract. Click here for the full study.

Steve Reba: Never Enough Blanket

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Like many foster kids, he lost his property somewhere along the way.  The blanket that smelled like mom, the sneakers that his brother gave him, the piece of pottery where he kept his coins.  Although he begged, his caseworker couldn’t find the time to drive back to placement number four simply to get his childish things that were easily replaced at number five. And so, a petrified six-year-old bounced around the system less a few items he once cherished, items that connected him to where he wanted to be. 

The boy grew older and moved around the state from group home to mental health facility.  He developed a close relationship with other boys in one home and became involved in a gang.  That involvement led to an armed robbery at fourteen, and that armed robbery resulted in a twenty-year prison sentence. I met him more than a year ago, well past the point of challenging his conviction and sentence.  Since then, we have communicated frequently. The primary goal of my representation is to make sure the awful things that happened to him in the first five years of prison happen far less frequently or not at all in the remaining twelve. 

Our visits generally involved him telling me about what has happened since we last met.

New Link Between Early Teen Drinking and Alcoholism

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Kids who begin drinking at 14 or younger are nearly twice as likely to be dependent on alcohol as those who begin drinking between 15 and 17. They are six times more likely to become alcoholics than people who wait until the legal age of 21 to start drinking, according to a new report from the Center for Substance Abuse Research. These findings come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The report goes on to suggest that alcohol education and prevention efforts start as early as middle school. JJIE.org reports today on the issue of alcoholic energy drinks, sometimes called 'cocaine in a can.'  The companies that make these drinks often target teens in their advertising.

Four Teens Charged with Murder in Beating Death

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An 18-year-old boy was killed at a house party in Douglasville, Ga Saturday night, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Four other teenagers, ages 18-19, were arrested for the death of Bobby Tillman. They have been charged with murder. More than 70 kids turned up at what was supposed to be a small house party. After parents ended the party a fight broke out outside the home between two girls.

Committee to Study Future of Georgia Commission on Family Violence

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The Georgia Commission on Family Violence set up a governance committee Friday in the midst of ongoing questions about where in state government the agency belongs. In its 2010 session, the state legislature attached the 37-member commission’s budget to the Administrative Office of the Courts within the judicial branch, and there is strong support for having it remain there. But there are also those—reportedly including Gov. Sonny Perdue—who would like to see it come under the Governor’s Office for Children and Families in the executive branch.  The possibility of moving the agency raises questions about its future, as JJIE.org reported Thursday. At the commission’s quarterly meeting, chairwoman Peggy Walker, a Douglas County juvenile court judge, asked members to volunteer for the new governance committee which will study the benefits and drawbacks to moving the agency, and look at how other states handle similar agencies. The committee will be headed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shawn LaGrua and will include Pardons and Paroles board member James Donald,  Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Fox, majority whip Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta), Henry County Solicitor General Charles Spanos and Robert Thornton, criminal services director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, which includes representatives of several other agencies and councils.

Survey for Georgia Teens and Parents: Your Views On School Discipline

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A new survey to gauge what parents and students think about  public school discipline is being fielded right now by the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. The non profit group is analyzing student discipline issues across the state. They're looking at student discipline data and interviewing a wide range of people connected with schools and courts, including principles, teachers, school probation officers, attorneys and juvenile court judges. Twelve school districts representing a range of geography and economics are currently participating and have been promised anonymity.  JUSTGeorgia and the Barton Center are helping get the word out to families. “We want a broad based and diverse group of parents and students to respond.  We’ve asked a number of stakeholder groups around the state to forward surveys to their mailing list so we can get as many views as possible,“ said Rob Rhodes, Director of Legal Affairs at Georgia Appleseed.