Fulton Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington routinely sees young men who are near the end of their line.

The Fulton County judge calls them his "captive audience" and every Thursday -- sentencing day -- he gives them a piece of his mind about eventually getting a degree and getting a job before sending them to prison for years.

Special (ENLARGE)

Judge Marvin Arrington

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Last Thursday, the judge now admits, he went too far. He said he looked out a 50 or so black defendants and asked all white people in the courtroom to leave.

"I wanted to have a fireside chat," he said of his decision to re-segregate the courtroom on the fifth floor of the Justice Towers. "And my grandmother said years ago that if you're going to fuss at black people, you don't need to do it in front of white people."

"I didn't know it was going to be so controversial," he said. "I probably made a bad judgment call and I probably won't do it again. It was not ill-intended. My heart was in the right place."

Arrington said that for him it was just a Bill Cosby moment in which he delivered a harsh indictment that bad behavior in poorer black neighborhoods was an albatross on black advancement. Unlike Cosby, who has received some criticism among blacks for delivering such messages, Arrington said the defendants and their families gave him a standing ovation after his 10-minute talk.

Arrington said he won't shut up in the future, but he'll be mindful of being more inclusive.

He said when he was younger he avoided bad choices because he had a mother who gave good advice, schoolteachers who took an interest and a father whose retribution he feared. Today, he said, "babies having babies" and parents who don't act like parents have made what were always tough neighborhoods far worse.

Just as important, he said, he always had a job -- throwing papers, waiting tables, working as a janitor and field hand -- as he made his way through high school, college and law school. Arrington started what he said was the first integrated law firm in Atlanta, got elected to City Council, ran and was defeated for mayor and now is a Superior Court judge with a penchant for speaking his mind.

The plaque on his desk in chambers says: "Even when I'm wrong, I'm right."