Who or what is JUSTGeorgia? JUSTGeorgia is a coalition advocating for Georgia’s justice and social service systems equitable to children. Its two primary objectives are the introduction of a new Georgia Juvenile Code and changes in system practices covering health, education, and children’s services that will reduce juvenile crime and antisocial behavior, and promote successful youth development.
What is the objective of JUSTGeorgia? The primary goal of JUSTGeorgia is to create a long term coalition that will advocate, monitor, and report on the conditions, laws, and policies that affect Georgia's youth. Fundamental to this goal are two initial objectives:
1) To work for the passage of a new Juvenile Code that reflects the scientific findings and best practices in the child development field; and
2) To identify and change policies in Georgia's underlying social services system that can prevent detention and sustain healthy behaviors outside the juvenile justice system.
The immediate goal of JUSTGeorgia is to have a package of legislation addressing these objectives ready for passage by the 2009 session.
Who is behind JUSTGeorgia? JUSTGeorgia is anchored by the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, Barton Child Law & Policy Clinic of Emory University and Voices for Georgia’s Children. These non-profit organizations are responsible for managing initiatives behind the project and building a coalition of major stakeholders involved in juvenile justice. Georgia Appleseed (www.gaappleseed.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a just society. Appleseed is a national group, but works at the local level, establishing and networking independent public interest law centers that identify and address issues community-by-community. As one of the nation's largest legal pro bono networks, our Appleseed Centers develop practical and lasting solutions to chronic injustices in public education, health care, child welfare, justice, and immigration.
The Barton Child Law & Policy Clinic of Emory University School of Law (www.childwelfare.net) is a multi-disciplinary program dedicated to ensuring safety, well-being and permanency for abused and court-involved children in Georgia. The Clinic engages in legislative analysis, policy development, individual client representation and other advocacy initiatives to improve child-serving systems.
Voices for Georgia’s Children (www.georgiavoices.org) is an independent, non-profit advocacy organization speaking up for the well being of the state’s children. Our aim is to be a primary information source to assist the leaders and citizens of Georgia in making sound decisions on policy, investment and systems that serve children and youth. In so doing, we can ensure that every child is safe, healthy, educated, employable and connected by family and community through supportive public policies as well as adequate public and private resources.
The project is supported through a grant by the Sapelo Foundation of Brunswick, Ga., first made in 2006. The Sapelo Foundation promotes progressive social change affecting, in particular, vulnerable populations, rural communities and the natural environment in the state of Georgia. Its primary activities surround environmental protection and social justice. See www.sapelofoundation.org for more information. What is the Juvenile Code?
Introduced in 1971, the Juvenile Code is a common reference to statutes in Title 15, Chapter 11 of the Official Code of Georgia that apply to young people who violate the law or are victims of abuse or neglect. These statutes describe under what circumstances individuals come within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and set rules, procedures and rights applicable to those who are under that jurisdiction. They provide the legal boundaries for the treatment of young people and for the judges, lawyers, agencies, and other professionals who work with them.
Why does the juvenile code need to be re-written? Children in Georgia, on average, have among the poorest outcomes in school achievement, graduation rates, obesity, pregnancy, employment and violent deaths compared to youth across the nation. For those entering the juvenile justice system due to delinquency or deprivation, the outcomes can be even worse.
Judges, lawyers, and others who use the current juvenile code on a daily basis view the code as being difficult to use, lacking in clarity, and outdated, as it does not reflect research-based best practices learned over 35 years. The code does not meet the needs of the juvenile courts and the legal practitioners who serve the courts. Even the Georgia General Assembly has recognized the need for reforms, passing a joint resolution in 2005 stating that the existing code was inadequate and called for its complete reform (Senate Resolution 161). More importantly, the existing code may not adequately protect the right of children in all cases.
Who will be responsible for re-writing the juvenile code? A project to re-write the code actually began in 2004 by the State Bar of Georgia’s Young Lawyers Division (YLD).
The goal of the Juvenile Code Revision Project is to create a research-based, comprehensive and well-organized, evidence-based best practices model juvenile code for Georgia. A revised and reorganized juvenile code will better fulfill the purpose of the juvenile courts, which in turn will result in better outcomes for Georgia’s children. Ultimately, the hope is to provide Juvenile Courts with the legal tools to better and more effectively meet the goal of the juvenile code: to protect and restore the well-being of at-risk children.
What areas in the existing code will be addressed and revised in the new code? The code rewrite project is an attempt to develop an extensive, complete reorganization and rewrite of Georgia’s Juvenile Code. Georgia is one of the first states to undertake such a monumental task and JUSTGeorgia is hopeful that the new juvenile code might one day serve as a model that other states can examine and modify for their own use. In drafting the new Juvenile Code, the YLD has adopted a multi-disciplinary, evidence, and research based approach in an effort to remedy identified concerns with the current code.
Major problems cited by focus groups convened by the YLD and by others familiar with the Juvenile Code indicate that the code (1) is structurally disorganized; (2) lacks clarity and specificity; (3) is difficult to apply, resulting in inconsistent rulings; (4) fails to provide adequate constitutional protections for youths; and (5) conflicts with federal law.
Some examples of areas that will be addressed include clarifying the structure and organization of the existing code so it is clear which statutes apply to delinquency, deprivation, unruly and other proceedings. The revised code will also provide clarity and consistency with regard to definitions and frequently cited terms, and will simplify and streamline the presentation of information, making the language as straightforward as possible. The revised code will clarify recurring issues that have caused confusion to appellate courts and have resulted in inconsistent case law. The revised code will be internally consistent, comply with existing federal law and Constitutional requirements, and to the extent possible, incorporate evidence-based research and best practices, drawing on scientific and social sciences advances of the last few decades.
What is the process for a model code to become law? After the model code is completed, a legislative package will be prepared that will include proposed legislation that if passed, would codify the provisions of the model code into Georgia law. Because Georgia’s code is so outdated, the hope is that this legislative package will be introduced in the 2009 legislative session. The democratic process will allow stakeholders and the public to have input into any legislation that is eventually passed into law.
What specific steps is JUSTGeorgia taking to encourage involvement from stakeholders in the process leading to the introduction of a legislative package? Concurrent with the code re-write, a comprehensive and balanced report about the current status of juvenile justice throughout the state under the existing code will be assembled (under direction of Georgia Appleseed). The report will be based on interviews of relevant stakeholders (juvenile court judges, advocates for juveniles, prosecutors, youth, etc.) conducted by volunteer lawyers across the state within each of Georgia’s ten judicial districts.
See more details on the law firms donating hundreds of pro bono hours to this initiative and the stakeholders who are participating at Georgia Appleseed. http://www.gaappleseed.org/children/index.html.
JUSTGeorgia also collected input during a series of town hall meetings across all major metro areas throughout the state in the fall of 2007, attended by broad cross section of stakeholders including legislators, judges, attorneys, probation officers, community leaders, advocates and concerned parents.
The model code itself will be posted online at www.justga.org for a 90-day review and comment period in which stakeholders may submit questions or recommendations.
Findings and recommendations for action based on all of the collected input will be publicly disseminated and considered in the development of legislation.
