They keep tinkering with Juvenile Court. They tried boot camps. Somebody decided that wasn’t working. They changed that to the “short-term program”, a ninety day period of incarceration. Then they shortened that to sixty days. Now, strapped for cash, the State is suggesting that we do away with the sixty day program. Our juvenile court judges are so frustrated they could scream.

Everything is already watered down. We have “graduated sanctions”. That means that, no matter what the judge does, the Department of Juvenile Justice adjusts the penalty according to a grid. After about five probation violations, we can incarcerate a juvenile.

Everybody knows that many kids use drugs. Way too many are addicts. Juvenile crime would drop if we had in-house drug treatment available for the kids who need it. Guess how many beds exist for that purpose in Georgia. Twelve.

I read in the paper about the national trend that emphasizes gentle treatment of juveniles. There is a group that is lobbying the General Assembly to fall into line with that trend. It looks to me like we are already there.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we need to lock up all the kids who commit delinquent acts. I am saying that each child is different and, to protect the public, we must be able to deal with each in a way that works.

One kid breaks the law because he hangs out with the wrong crowd. Another kid gets in trouble because he doesn’t respect authority. This one has ADD. The next is addicted to drugs. This one is a psychopath.

The juvenile authorities need the resources to identify what’s wrong and to correct it. Sometimes that means jail. And we shouldn’t have to wait until there are five victims before they go.