The Georgia Council on Substance Abuse strongly supports HB 272 – The Raise the Age Act – by Representative Mandi Ballinger. The Georgia Recovery Community calls on the General Assembly to support this transformational legislation with unanimous bi-partisan support.
About House Bill 272
- HB 272 will raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to encompass non-violent 17-year-olds.
- Georgia is one of the last 3 states in the country to treat 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system for ANY infraction.
- The juvenile justice system is FAR better equipped to rehabilitate these youth than the adult system.
- Raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to cover non-violent 17-year-olds will help Georgia teens, improve public safety, and save taxpayer dollars.
- HB 272 does NOT affect those youth who commit crimes, such as murder or rape. Such youth would still be tried in adult court as they are currently.
“Georgia is one of only three states that processes all 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system, sending them to adult court rather than through the juvenile justice system. Science regarding brain development is clear in showing that juveniles are different than adults in many important ways. Teenagers are more impulsive, reactive, risk-taking, and subject to peer pressure, to just offer a few. Additionally, many of these non-violent incidents have, at their core, issues related to substance use disorders, and it is well documented that early onset of the use of alcohol and drugs have extremely detrimental consequences, physiologically and emotionally, to young people,” said Neil Campbell, Executive Director of the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.
“Young children, suffering from addiction, need and deserve medical help, which they can better access in the juvenile justice system. The last thing they need is to become another statistic and a life lost in the adult system,” said Campbell.
“Data shows lower level offenders, when confined with higher level offenders, emerge from incarceration more inclined to conduct criminal activity. Evidence-based alternatives to detention have been proven to reduce the likelihood of criminal activity. Georgia has already taken steps to improve public safety, this is the next important step in this process of reform. HB 272 will help the children of Georgia, make our communities stronger, and save taxpayer dollars,”,” said Jeff Breedlove, Chief of Policy and Communication for the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.
