PTA leader: Teach Ga. law

Georgia PTA leaders concerned about teens facing suspension, expulsion and even prosecution for misbehaving at school are taking a stand to push districts to educate students about state laws.

Sheila Cornelius, president-elect of the PTA, has announced that the parent organization may soon ask state lawmakers and school boards to add a new class to inform middle and high school students about crime and punishment in Georgia.

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J. Tom Morgan

Author to speak
J. Tom Morgan will lecture on his book "Ignorance Is No Defense" at 7 p.m. Monday at Hull Middle School in Duluth. For more information on his book, visit www.ignoranceisnodefense.com

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The lessons would be designed to prevent some of the thousands of students facing discipline over incidents in public schools from getting saddled with criminal records.

“My goal is to make sure people understand that we can educate a child now or we can repair an adult later,” Cornelius said.

Cornelius said she will present her idea to the PTA’s members at a state leadership meeting in July. Her resolution will ask PTAs across the state to lobby for the creation of a class that teaches students material covered in the popular crime-prevention book written by former DeKalb District Attorney J. Tom Morgan, “Ignorance Is No Defense: A Teenager’s Guide to Georgia Law,” which is waking up teens to the reality that immature behavior could land them in juvenile and adult court.

The book uses real examples to explain how teens can be charged and punished for alcohol, sex, drug and violent crimes in Georgia depending on their age. It also informs teens about their legal rights to refuse police searches of their pockets, cars and book bags without probable cause and the right to refuse to be questioned by police without an attorney present.

“What I found when I started representing teens after leaving the district attorney’s office is many of our young people do not know the laws,” Morgan said. “… A lot of things that a kid may have been dealt with harshly by his coach or principal for engaging in, now [school officials] are just picking up the phone and calling the police and the kid is getting arrested.”

Morgan has traveled to 88 schools in less than two years, sharing legal lessons about misdeeds that could affect kids’ futures and Georgia benchmarks not widely as known as the legal drinking age. Morgan says:

» Students ages 13 to 16 can be prosecuted as adults for the “seven deadly sins,” including murder.

» You must be at least age 16 to engage in consensual sex.

» Oral sex with anyone under 16 is aggravated child molestation, which can be considered as a misdemeanor with a sentence of up to 12 months or a felony with a minimum sentence of 25 years, depending on the age difference of the people involved.

» On your 17th birthday, you face adult prosecution for crimes.

Cellphones used irresponsibly also can get teens prosecuted. “A 17-year-old boy takes a nude picture of his 17-year-old girlfriend with his cellphone and then he sends it to his best buddy … who shares it with classmates,” Morgan says. “Both kids end up getting arrested for felonies, the first boy for manufacturing child pornography, the second boy for possessing and distributing child pornography.”

Cornelius said such information should be shared with teens. If the PTA members back the idea, they would then appeal to their local school boards and legislators to make it part of the curriculum.