2012 State of the Judiciary Address Urges Changes to Juvenile Justice System

The Honorable Chief Justice Carol Hustein requested reforms be made to the juvenile justice system in her recent State of the Judiciary Address to the House Chambers at the State Capitol.

State cuts in mental health services, child welfare services and group homes leave few alternatives for juvenile judges who are faced with sending young people to locked facilities to receive treatment.



Honorable Chief Justice Carol Hustein

Chief Justice Hustein provided a unique parable to illustrate her point. “Have you heard about a group of people who were standing at a river bank when they watched an infant floating by and drowning in the river? One person dove in and rescued the child. But then another baby came floating by. And then another, and another! Frantic, everyone jumped in to try to save the babies. But they noticed one person walking away. Accusingly, they shouted, ‘Where are you going?’ He answered: I’m going upstream to stop whoever is throwing babies into the river.”

In Georgia, we are throwing children into youth prisons because many times no alternative exists.

Tasha was well on her way to adult prison. At the age of 8 her mother abandoned the family.  Although her father worked, they had little money and many times slept in their car. By 11 years old she was smoking marijuana and by 13, she was hooked on methamphetamine.

Tasha went in and out of Georgia’s YDC and boot camps. She describes the YDC as a miserable place full of miserable people who wanted to do harm. “You take away a little bit of bad with you.  You come out knowing worse people than when you went in and you build relationships with them.”

Everything changed when Tasha was assigned probation officer Jennifer King, who genuinely cared and refused to give up on her. Tasha got her G.E.D, drug treatment, and ultimately a job. Today she works fulltime in insurance taking care of her two daughters – as a tax payer, not a tax burden.  Without Jennifer, she says, it would have been easy to graduate to adult prison. Tasha often wonders how many teenagers could have turned their lives around if they had a Jennifer in their lives to help them along the way.

Georgia Representatives are now tasked with considering options to reform our state’s criminal justice system and resolving need for sentencing options other than prison alone for our youth.