Bishop Eddie Long Responds To Young Accusers

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The day after an Atlanta rally calling for his resignation, embattled megachurch bishop Eddie Long formally responded to allegations that he engaged in sexual relationships with four young men. In the documents filed late yesterday afternoon in Dekalb County State Court, Long admitted that he took the former New Birth Missionary Baptist Church members on trips, but he denied ever seducing them. Long said he occasionally shared a room with members of his congregation, but the claims of sexual misconduct "are not true." Long said he mentored the men and that they, like other members of his church, called him "daddy," "bishop" and "granddaddy," according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Maurice Robinson, Anthony Flagg, Jamal Parris and Spencer LeGrande – all now in their early twenties – claim Long seduced them when they were teens (from 16 to 18 years of age) attending his church.

Truett’s Truth: Chick-fil-A’s Founder Speaks

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He is credited with creating the chicken sandwich and his company is known for the wildly popular “Eat Mor Chikin” ad campaign. When Truett Cathy, 89, isn’t busy with his duties helming the Chick-fil-A fast food chain empire he founded, he’s busy serving as “grandpa” to hundreds of needy children. Since 1987 his WinShape Homes have served more than 300 kids in three states. The Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges has presented him with the Martha Glaze Service Award for his efforts. JJIE’s Chandra Thomas sat down with Cathy (who donned a burgundy tie plastered with his signature Chik-fil-A cows) to discuss the honor named for a retired Clayton County judge and his lifelong commitment to serving children.

Research Center Employs New Model to Help At-Risk Kids

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In Florida, black kids make up 39 percent of imprisoned juveniles, although they only account for 21.5 percent of the state’s youth population, according to Department of Juvenile Justice data from 2009 through 2010. Florida A&M University partnered with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice to build the Juvenile Justice Research Institute in response to minority over-representation in Florida's juvenile justice system. The center, which opened Wednesday, focuses on researching minority over-representation while providing non-traditional juvenile justice services that address the needs of high-risk kids. The Institute uses a model called the Situational Environmental Circumstances Pilot (SECP), which stresses the importance of individual development, academic achievement, job readiness and family and community support for at-risk children. SECP teaches kids about things like goal setting, effectively communicating and creating employability skills.

Non-Profit Seeks New Director

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Here’s a plum job for someone who’s into juvenile justice reform:

Reclaiming Futures, a non-profit that focuses on helping kids involved with drugs, alcohol and crime, is looking for a new national director. Started by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Reclaiming Futures uses a 6-step model that brings judges, probation officers, substance abuse treatment professionals and community members together to help kids in need. Some of the job responsibilities include:

Create a strategic plan for policy, programming, communications, operations and budgets. Track and measure the performance of Reclaiming Futures sites
Perform site visits, develop funding opportunities, attend meetings and make conference presentations
Network, coordinate and promote activities with other national organizations and other interested parties

This position pays $105,000 - $120,000, depending on experience and you’d have to move to Portland, OR. To download the application, click here.

Truancy Intervention Project: "Why Don’t They Go To School?"

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Seven years ago, South Atlanta High School student Faydren Battle had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Problems at home and problems with her boyfriend kept her on edge and out of school. She says her life turned around when truancy charges landed her in court and introduced her to the Truancy Intervention Project, co-founded by former Fulton County Juvenile Court Chief Judge Glenda Hatchett and Terry Walsh, then President of the Atlanta Bar Association. The non-profit works closely with children who skip school (and their families) to address the underlying problems that keep them out of the classroom. Battle, now 25, is one of thousands of success stories the organization has celebrated over its 19-year history.

Fight Breaks Out in Juvenile Court

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If anyone needs proof that emotions run high in juvenile court, take a look at the video (below) from Augusta, released by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department. A fight erupted inside the courtroom on Wednesday afternoon, when an officer tried to put handcuffs on a teenage boy.  The teen resisted and tried to leave. The boy’s grandmother, identified as Dora Ward, rushed up and grabbed the officer around the neck.  According to an account in the August Chronicle, the officer was getting choked.  Another officer tackled the woman and pushed her to the floor. Ward and her grandson were both arrested for Obstruction of an Officer.  What made this situation particularly tense: Ward is the mother of Justin Elmore, who was shot and killed by two Richmond County deputies in 2008, after he tried to drive away from a traffic stop.  
Watch the incident on surveillance video, released Friday.

Barton Center Appoints Melissa Carter as New Director

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Melissa D. Carter is the new director of The Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University, starting December 1.  She replaces Karen Worthington, the founding director, who recently left the Barton Center after ten years. Carter has a rich history as a child advocate.  She is currently Director of Georgia’s Office of the Child Advocate, and served as Deputy Director of the agency until last February, when Governor Perdue tapped her for the top post. Carter has worked as a private practice adoption lawyer, and chaired the State Bar’s Juvenile Law Committee.  While in law school, she worked as a student case manager with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and as a legislative assistant for the Children’s Rights Council in Washington, D.C.  Carter knows the work of the Barton Center well, since she served as a Post-Graduate Fellow in Law at the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic. Read more about Melissa Carter in this news release.

Advocates Urge DMC Amendment to Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act

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Two well known child advocates are making an impassioned plea to fight harder against disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice systems nationwide. Nancy Gannon Hornberger, executive director of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, and her colleague, Gina E. Wood, chair of the Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee, write about unfairness, inequality and racial and ethnic disparities in Youth Today. They urge congress to consider a DMC amendment to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Action, currently up for reauthorization.  They recommend a policy requiring every state to identify and solve problems with a six-point plan:

Establish coordinating bodies to oversee efforts to reduce disparities. Identify key decision points in the system (i.e., arrest, detention, diversion) and the criteria by which decisions are made. Create systems to collect local data at these points of contact of youth with the juvenile justice system (including case level/individual level data) to identify where disparities exist and the causes of such disparities.

Judge Michael Key Targets Zero Tolerance, Legal Orphans, Crossover Cases and More on National Stage

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LaGrange—Judge Michael Key is a hometown boy, a son of  the cotton mill village where he played rhythm guitar in a rock-and-roll band on Saturday nights and went to a Southern Baptist Church on Sundays. He was headed off to Emory University’s law school before he ever met a lawyer. “Back then people just didn’t go from the mill village to being a lawyer,” he says. For 31 years, Key (LaGrange High School, class of ’68) has been back home practicing law. For 21 of those years, he’s also been a part-time juvenile court judge.

Florida’s Juvenile Crime Problem a Mirror for the Nation

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There’s a steady increase in the number of kids sent to adult court for violent crimes in Central Florida, where 600 teens were tried as adults last year. The Orlando Sentinel reports on the dilemma facing prosecutors and judges, who want violent offenders locked up in prison.  While child advocates argue that exposing children to prison life is almost a guarantee they will reoffend. A criminal justice professor points out a problem that may sound familiar:
“The increase reflects a system-wide conundrum when dealing with violent repeat young offenders: The juvenile-justice system — oriented toward rehabilitating children — offers few alternatives for punishing young offenders who pose serious threats to the community”