By Kelly McCutchen Georgia’s prison population has grown 35 percent over the last decade and is projected to continue growing over the next five years.  Public safety is bolstered when offenders who are violent, dangerous or career criminals are put behind bars, but too often lower-level offenders emerge from prison as more hardened criminals. Unfortunately, about two-thirds of those admitted to prison in Georgia have been convicted of a non-violent offense.  The “lock ’em up and throw away the key” approach has failed this state:  The streets aren’t necessarily safer by locking up low-risk, nonviolent offenders. The state spends over $1 billion annually on corrections, yet nearly 35 percent of inmates released return to custody within three years. The problem… View Article

By Marc A. Levin Georgia’s Governor-elect Nathan Deal has earned his stripes as a tough-as-nails prosecutor who rightly noted on the campaign trail that he put many rapists in prison where they belong. At the same time, prosecutors in Georgia and around the nation also see up close the many low-level, nonviolent offenders who cycle through the system. In Texas, which is similarly known for its law and order approach, one impetus for the successful reforms over the last several years was the prosecutors and judges who told lawmakers that they were reluctantly sending many low-level, nonviolent offenders to prisons who were not a danger to public safety and could succeed in the right community corrections program. Their problem, they… View Article

Crime Agenda Remove the state’s gag rule on local crime statistics Adopt “truth in sentencing” for all crimes so that the public knows exactly what percentage of a prisoner’s sentence will be served Consider more cost-effective alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders Focus local law enforcement on deterring, rather than reacting to crime Modify the Georgia Charter School Law to support the successful Youth Challenge Academy for high school dropouts Facts General Crime Mirroring the downward trend nationally in crime rates, Georgia’s crime rate has dropped for the past three years and now stands at 45 per 1,000 residents. Georgia’s crime rate is lower than many of its neighbors, including Florida at 54, North Carolina at 47, South Carolina at… View Article

By Michael Light Director, Georgia Parole Board Office of Criminal Justice Research The following article is reprinted with permission from the March 1999 edition of Georgia County Government Magazine, published by the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, the 85-year-old education, training and legislative advocacy organization of all 159 Georgia county governments. ACCG may be reached on the Web or by writing 50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 1000, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Today, Georgia stands at a crossroads in its criminal justice history where policymakers and lawmakers must pay careful attention to the thin line between tough laws and smart criminal justice decisions. Over the last ten years Georgia has spent billions to build thousands of new “hard” prison beds while enacting some… View Article

Randall W. Duncan, Esq.; John C. Speir, Ph.D.; Tammy S. Meredith, Ph.D. This report demonstrates the value of such research, and the policy questions that can arise from a rational and thorough debate of the many issues emanating from the current controversy. Time is of the essence. Even as the Georgia criminal justice system is showing symptoms of stress during the “best of times” (low unemployment, budget surplus, growing economy, strong tax base), the state is facing specific demo- graphic trends. In particular, the projected population “bulge” of youth in the next ten years, especially those in economically disadvantaged groups, could turn the current decline in crime and threaten the system with another corrections crisis. If an increase in crime… View Article

By Joe D. Whitley, Daniel J. Adamson In today’s atmosphere of political pragmatism and fiscal responsibility, few people see government as a cure-all for society’s ills; instead, our elected officials increasingly look for solutions in partnerships with the private sector. One such private-sector partnership should be considered as a means to improve the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s (GBI) State Crime Lab. Founded nearly forty years ago as the second statewide forensics facility in the nation, our crime lab was once a leader in the field. Today, however, it is a prime example of a facility in need of massive reform. Georgia’s crime lab is plagued by neglect, an ever-increasing caseload, and problems resulting from changes in the nature and investigation… View Article

John G. Malcolm Georgia’s juvenile justice system needs reform. The system is failing the citizens of Georgia and, ironically, the juveniles it is supposed to “rehabilitate.” The whole system is premised on by-gone days when children did not engage in many of the types of serious criminal behavior that are common today. The system was designed to punish “youthful indiscretions” and to send a “message” to the juvenile without stigmatizing him for life. Furthermore, it used to be believed that such youths really had no control over what they were doing since they were not old enough to really know the difference between right and wrong. Today’s young people are exposed to far more violence and barbarity than most of… View Article

by John G. Malcolm1 It is beyond dispute that fighting crime is one of the fundamental obligations that any government owes to its citizens. Indeed, the Constitution of the State of Georgia provides that, “Protection to person and property is the paramount duty of government and shall be impartial and complete.”2 Nothing has done more to undermine trust and confidence in our public servants and public institutions than our government’s failure to deal forcefully and efficiently with the greatest threat to the promise of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” provided for in our Declaration of Inde- pendence: crime. Can government “solve” our crime problem? Of course not, but it must do more. http://www.gppf.org/pub/Crime/crimeinga.pdf… View Article