Cracking the Unpleasant Dealing in Walnut Grove

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National Public Radio has done a series on the nation’s largest juvenile justice detention facility in the small town of Walnut Grove, Miss. The story was triggered, in part, by a civil rights lawsuit brought by the Montgomery, Ala.,-based Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.  The suit against the private operator of the facility, GEO Group, claims that inmates are held in inhuman conditions, that sex takes place between female guards and male inmates and that inmate-on- inmate violence is rampant. In mid-2010 the Louisiana-based GEO Group was awarded a contract by the Georgia Department of Corrections to operate a 1,500 adult correctional detention in Milledgeville.

Prevent Child Abuse Georgia Closure A Devastating Blow, Advocates Say

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The recent abrupt closure of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia – a non-profit child welfare organization with a 25-plus year history – is a devastating setback for efforts to protect abused and neglected kids, many local advocates say. “The closure of PCA GA leaves two gaps in our community, one being the loss in regards to community education,” said Pat Willis, executive director of Voices for Georgia’s Children. “This organization did so much to raise awareness and to provide community support to prevent the abuse and neglect of children in our state. The other, quite frankly, is in regards to community support. Whenever we lose a non-profit that was such a stalwart for children it raises the question, ‘Are we as a community doing all that we can to support efforts to protect children in our state?’”

Former PCA GA Program Specialist and Training Manager Anna Curtis announced its untimely demise in a tersely-written email time-stamped 10:50 p.m. Wednesday, March 16.

High Court Hears Arguments in Juvenile Miranda Case

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The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the case of a seventh-grade special education student who was interviewed by police without being read his Miranda rights. The boy, known as J.D.B. in court documents, was pulled out of class and questioned by police about a series of break-ins in a closed-door meeting five years ago.  During the 45-minute meeting, J.D.B. implicated himself in the crimes.  His attorney argues that J.D.B.’s rights were violated, however police say the boy was not in official custody at the time of his confession. Upon returning home from school, J.D.B. was met by police with a search warrant.  Authorities recovered stolen items from his home. The High Court will issue its decision, which could have far-reaching implications for juvenile justice, later in the year.

Judge: Big Problems If Georgia Doesn’t Sign Compact

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A few days ago, one of Judge Mary Carden’s probation officers came to her with a problem. A juvenile on probation and under the supervision of her court had moved to Texas with his parents. The probation officer did what he had always done; he phoned his counterpart in Texas, explained the situation and asked, as usual, that Georgia transfer supervision to the state of Texas. “Texas,” Judge Carden said, “essentially told us ‘come get your kid.’ They told us that Texas is very much aware that Georgia has chosen not to sign the Compact and as far as they were concerned, this wasn’t their problem.”

The Compact Judge Carden refers t o is the Interstate Compact for Juveniles (ICJ), a legal mechanism that allows for the speedy and seamless transfer of delinquents and runaways between states. Georgia currently operates under the framework of a 1955 agreement.

Researcher Finds More Effective, Lower Cost Solution For Juvenile Justice Treatment

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New research finds that using a method of therapy involving family and community is more effective and costs the juvenile justice system significantly less than traditional methods that focus only on the individual. Charles Borduin, a University of Missouri professor who pioneered multi-systemic therapy (MST), used a cost-benefit analysis of 176 juvenile offenders to determine that the method is 10 times cheaper than therapy that focused exclusively on the offender, according to ScienceDaily. "Most current treatments are based on the idea that the problem lies entirely within the child," Borduin said. "If you look at the scientific literature, it's not about the individual kid -- it's about family problems, low household warmth, high levels of conflict, abuse, neglect, involvement with the wrong group of kids, school problems, and so on.”

Although MST has high costs upfront, Borduin said that using MST on one juvenile offender resulted in savings of $75,110 to $199,374 over a 14-year period.

Georgia Juvenile Programs Will Lose Big if U.S. House Budget Passes

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Georgia will lose $27 million for Head Start, a comprehensive early childhood development program for at-risk children, if the proposed U.S. House budget bill is signed into law, according to a new report by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.  The cut represents 3,900 seats in the program. The 878,000 low-income kids enrolled in Education for the Disadvantaged programs across Georgia will also lose big.  Those programs will face a $40 million reduction in federal funds. Some programs will lose federal funds altogether.  YouthBuild, a program that gives construction jobs and education to disadvantaged teens is zeroed out in the proposed bill.

Child Advocates React To AG Holder’s Juvenile Justice Reform Call

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Local child advocates are reacting favorably to United States Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent comments about the dire need for major juvenile justice system reform. In remarks to the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference, Holder called for the Department of Justice to adopt a new approach that combines evidence-based research and comprehensive community partnerships. Holder also said that it’s time for us to ask some important questions such as; why is it that African-American youth make up 16 percent of the overall youth population, but comprise more than half of the juvenile population arrested for committing a violent crime?  Why is it that abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely than their non-abused and non-neglected peers to be arrested for criminal behavior?   And why is that so many of those who enter our juvenile justice system either can’t afford – or do not know to ask for – access to legal guidance?

Eric Holder on Juvenile Justice

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said this week the Department of Justice would put a priority on improving the nation’s juvenile justice system. In a speech to the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference, Holder said the Department would place an emphasis on forming community partnerships and using evidence-based research in dealing with the issue. The attorney general also told the conference that it was time to answer some difficult questions concerning crime and race and the treatment of children. “Why,” Holder asked, “is it that, although African-American youth make up 16 percent of the overall youth population, they make up more than half of the juvenile population arrested for committing a violent crime? Why is it that abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely than their non-abused and non-neglected peers to be arrested for criminal behavior?

Got A (Unused) Ticket to The Yelawolf Concert?

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JJIE.org has been told that all did not go well at the Yelawolf concert at the Freight Depot, a music venue, near Underground Atlanta over the weekend. Loads of people who bought tickets (for about $15 a piece) could not get into the concert venue because security closed the doors before reaching capacity. Promoter D.J. Adam Golden, an up and coming Atlanta-based music promoter, takes full responsibility and is asking ticket holders to get in touch with him on Twitter or Facebook to get their money back before the end of today, Tuesday March 8. “The cops had to shut it down because of a lack of security and that was my fault,” said Golden. “I was in charge of staffing and everything else.