Margaritaville Singer offers Grant for Change

By |

Jimmy Buffett’s charity “Singing For a Change” is offering grants to help kids and their families. These grants are awarded to programs that focus on health, education and the protection of kids. It also aims to help foster self-esteem and self-sufficiency. The goal is to teach kids to find creative ways to work out their problems other than through the use of violence. The grant program focuses on improving the quality of life to help make positive changes in communities.

Grant Aims to Protect Kids Against Cyber Crime

By |

The Child Protection Research Program is a grant sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Department of Justice and the Office of Justice Programs. The goal is to understand and improve the response to crimes against children by using technological means. This grant focuses on the ability to predict abusive behavior towards kids. It seeks to research and identify people being investigated for online child exploitation and the risk they pose to kids. Undercover operations identify hundreds of thousands of different internet provider addresses involved in child pornography every year. This grant continues to create the proper tools to identify the suspects and and rescue victims.

 

DAI Bill is DOA

By |

A bill that would make decisions uniform about incarcerating juvenile offenders will not become law this year. “I’ll be honest, this bill is not going anywhere,” said Catherine Lottie, legal counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, referring to H.B. 471. “The governor’s office hasn’t seen it and his people need time to look at it for a number of issues, including how much it will cost the state.”

The measure, sponsored by the committee’s chair, Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) deals with so-called detention assessment instruments  (DAIs), evaluations used by officials that help to determine if a juvenile should be incarcerated or not. DAIs allow intake officials to assign point values to juveniles who have been arrested. If the intake officer gives the accused a high enough score, the juvenile is detained.

Senate Committee To Reschedule Code Rewrite Hearing

By |

The clock is ticking for supporters of Georgia’s long-awaited juvenile code rewrite.  Crossover day — the critical mid-point in the legislative session, when Senate bills move over to the House of Representatives and House bills transition to the Senate — is now a little less than a week away. So far Senate Bill 127, also known as the Child Protection and Public Safety Act, has not yet made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) and if it does not do so before that critical deadline, it won’t be able to advance any further during this legislative session. That would be a major blow for supporters who have been involved in the rewrite process since 2004. The committee was scheduled to discuss the measure at a hearing Wednesday.

Updates you may have noticed

By |

Greetings from JJIE's social media desk. If you're familiar with the site you've probably noticed some new features popping up the past few days. If you're new then you may be looking for the best way to get involved or make the most of your visits. At the bottom of each article you'll notice some updated 'sharing' features along with a 'report an error' button and a psuedo-pop-up welcoming our Interim Editorial Director John Fleming to the ranks. While the pop-up isn't here to stay, we think the other changes are a step in the right direction.

Colorado Boy, 12, To Be Charged in Parents’ Murder

By |

A 12-year-old Colorado boy may be charged with the murder of his parents, the local district attorney said.  Police in Burlington, Colo., found the bodies of Charles and Marilyn Long in their home Mar. 1 after the boy called 911.  The 12-year-old’s two siblings were seriously injured, according to police, but are expected to recover. The district attorney is contemplating charging the boy as an adult.  He will appear first in juvenile court. Neighbors were shocked by the murders.  According to a story in Time, the family was very religious and the homeschooled boy volunteered at his church.

Juvenile Parole Board Legislation Sponsor: ‘My Bill Will Be Heard On The Floor Of The Senate’

By |

It seems that even the Georgia Legislature can have an off schedule week. First the House Children & Youth Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the State Capitol got canceled at the last minute. According to the agenda, the topic was supposed to be a discussion about “a system-wide approach” to “children and youth with special needs.”

Then JJIE.org got tipped off that the Senate Judiciary Committee had scheduled a hearing Thursday on Senate Bill 105, which proposes to establish a three-person juvenile parole panel within the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). An hour-and-a-half into the committee’s meeting (following a lively discussion about the controversial immigration-focused Senate Bill 40) we learned that the parole board bill would not be heard that day. “The committee chairman has the authority to add or delete anything from the agenda,” explained SB 105 sponsor Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur).

Teens Learn the Hard Way: That’s Not Cocaine – It’s Fido

By |

Five teens had a real OMG! moment.  They broke into a house and stole electronics, jewelry, and something else they mistook for cocaine or heroin.  The kids must have thought they hit the jackpot and they snorted it. When they didn’t get high the teens realized something was wrong.  Very wrong. They saw a TV news report about the burglary and the list of stolen items, which included urns filled with ashes. Instead of cocaine they were snorting the cremated remains of two dogs and a man.

Albany Teen Could Face Death Penalty for Murder of Store Clerk

By |

An Albany, Ga. teen charged with murder may be fighting for his life.  Anthony Hill, 16, could be facing the death penalty for his role in a convenience store robbery that left a clerk dead, according to Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards. Surveillance video shows two men wearing ski masks enter the Miscelenea Guate-Mex Store waving guns.  After robbing the store, police say one of the men shot and killed the store clerk, Sentos Vincente.  They are still searching for the second man. Hill appeared before a Magistrate judge yesterday.  A Superior Court judge will decide on bail at a later hearing.

Helping Kids Achieve in Acworth

By |

The City of Acworth, GA.,  is supporting a program called the Acworth Achievers. Five years ago, Acworth identified a concern about at-risk kids within the city limits and began developing a program. The goal of this program is to help middle and high school children make better decisions through after-school and mentoring programs.

“This will offer more opportunities and give kids better decision making skills so they can become productive adults,” Frank White, the Director of Acworth Achievers and the Recreation Coordinator for Acworth Parks and Recreation said. “It’s about inspiring kids to be the very best that they can be,” Mayor Tommy Allegood said. Click below to hear more from Mayor Allegood about the Acworth Achievers.