Did teen throw away second chance that judge gave him?

Tears flowed last month when a teen showed up to publicly thank Juvenile Court Judge Bradley Boyd for giving him a second chance to get his act together.

“It was pretty moving,” said Michelle Barclay, a staffer with the Georgia Administrative Office of the Courts.

But unbeknownst to Boyd or the others who gathered that afternoon for the judge’s retirement celebration, the kid had apparently blown that second chance.

According to police spokesman Carlos Campos, just months after the teen’s release in August, Atlanta police issued two warrants for his arrest — one for stealing a car and another for gang activity.

That wasn’t all.

“We were looking for him for those crimes when he was arrested in Cobb County on (Jan. 12),” Campos said in an email.

Since the kid had gone to Boyd’s celebration in a Fulton County jury room, I wondered about that. Surely, they hadn’t been looking too hard.

Even if they didn’t know he’d show up at Boyd’s retirement party, they seemed pretty sure last year the teen would mess up again. They were so sure in fact the Atlanta Police Department, without naming Boyd, publicly criticized him for what it called “inexplicable leniency.”

At the time, the teen had appeared before Judge Boyd and admitted to eight charges, including theft, being a member of a gang and entering a car.

Instead of locking the teen up, Judge Boyd decided to take him out of the “unstable” environment he’d been living in and place him in the custody of a more stable, older sister.

That didn’t sit well with the Atlanta Police Department, and they said so on Facebook, prompting a public outcry and threats to Judge Boyd and his wife. It was pretty awful, especially since it looked like the teen had had a change of heart.

When I wrote about the incident back in November, the teen was in school and seemingly walking the straight and narrow.

That apparently changed.

“It is sad that this young man did not take his experiences in juvenile court seriously enough to carefully weigh the poor choices he was making and try to turn his life around,” Campos said. “We take no pleasure in knowing that the lack of real consequences for his actions have predictably led to more run-ins with the law. It is a somber reality of what we see, far too often.”

You could argue Judge Boyd made a bad decision, but I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s ever a bad thing to extend mercy to anyone, lea

st of all a juvenile.

And I still don’t believe any of us should be shamed and certainly not threatened for doing so.

If any of these charges prove to be true, this kid will certainly have a bigger hill to climb but I wouldn’t call him a lost cause.

As things stand, not only is the APD on his tail, he was arrested Jan. 12 by Cobb police and charged with theft by receiving a stolen handgun.

That’s not all.

“They also put a drug charge on him,” Campos said. “He apparently had some type of narcotics on his person when they arrested him. He also had in excess of $1,400 cash on him when he was taken into custody.’’

If he’s guilty, this is really bad for a lot of reasons, but one in particular sticks out. The 16-year-old I wrote about in November is 17 now.

In Georgia, that means he can be tried as an adult. The big question looming now is will his actions hamper efforts currently underway to raise to 18 the age at which juveniles can be prosecuted as adults.

“Right now, there are about 6,500 17-year-olds arrested every year,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver. “Of those, two-thirds are arrested on misdemeanors. What we don’t know is whether or not they are convicted or how long they stay in jail when they are.”

According to House Juvenile Justice Committee Chairwoman Mandi Ballinger, author of House Bill 440 (the Raise the Age bill), Georgia is one of only three states that still prosecutes those over 16 as adults.

Neither she nor Oliver believes this teen should become the poster child for other juvenile offenders.

Credit: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“We should not make policy based on the screw-ups of one teenager,” Oliver said. “Our goals need to focus on public safety, smart spending of taxpayers’ money, and protecting children from their own impulsive and dumb mistakes.”

Ballinger agreed, saying “we can’t govern and quarterback at the same time. I hope we don’t allow this single incident to set policy, and instead align policy with the science and our values when governing.”

That science says teenagers’ brains are still developing and thus still possess the ability to change their behavior for the better.

Boyd believes this but so do a lot of other people, myself and Clayton County Judge Steve Teske included.

That’s why the judges believe we should be doing everything we can to keep kids out of prison, even at some risk to the public.

Why?

Because, according to Teske, there is a greater risk to the community in locking kids up than there is in keeping them out and trying everything at our disposal before removing them.

“The probabilities of creating a more violent kid becomes a reality, and a future violent statistic that may save us now, but increase the rate of crime later because they all come back home,” Teske said.

Still, he said, we cannot blame the police for their frustration with the court system if judges don’t exercise their influence to have healthy conversations about each other’s roles and how to increase the understanding of those roles.

“Juvenile court judges have the authority … to bring stakeholders together, including law enforcement, to enter into written protocols to address delinquency, dependency, and children in need of services,” Teske said. “It allows for protocols to be developed to address the prevention of these problems in our community.”

Teske said it’s time for the courts and police to have a serious conversation about each other’s roles.

“That includes bringing in people who know what works,” he said, “and not what politically works or is more palatable rhetoric that boosts one’s image for those they must impress to keep their jobs.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Find Gracie on Facebook (www.facebook.com/graciestaplesajc/) and Twitter (@GStaples_AJC) or email her at gstaples@ajc.com.

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