REPORT: STATE IS FILLING DETENTION BEDS WITH NON-VIOLENT YOUTHS

ATLANTA -- Non-violent offenders are a growing presence in Georgia's
juvenile detention centers as serious crimes involving young people
decrease, according to a new report ordered by the Department of Juvenile
Justice.

Reflecting a nationwide trend, juvenile arrests for violent crimes in
Georgia fell by 27 percent between 1995 and 1998, while arrests for serious
property crimes decreased by 24 percent, Atlanta-based Applied Research
Services Inc., reported in a study completed last month.

At the same time, arrests of Georgia young people for less serious crimes
such as drug possession, disorderly conduct and so-called "status" crimes
like loitering were on the rise, soaring by 200 percent between 1990 and
1998, according to the report.

Many of those non-violent offenders are ending up in Georgia's regional
youth detention centers, which house young offenders accused of crimes
while their cases are pending, or in youth development campuses, which are
for those who have been sentenced to state custody.

For example, while the percentage of RYDC admissions for youths charged
with violent or serious property crimes fell between 1996 and last year,
the percentage of offenders charged with less serious non-violent crimes
increased.

The increase in non-violent offenders is driven in part by drug task forces
organized by local law enforcement agencies and funded by federal grants,
said Greg Maxey, the department's deputy commissioner.

"We're locking up a lot more less-serious offenders," Maxey told members of
the Georgia Board of Juvenile Justice Thursday. "The war on drugs has
dramatically widened the net."

Maxey said the higher concentration of non-violent offenders in custody is
adding more girls to the system, which puts a financial strain on the
department because it has to have some separate facilities and
gender-specific programs for them.

He said the crackdown on drug offenses also has caused the number of young
people in custody from rural Georgia and the state's urban areas outside of
Atlanta to grow much faster than the number in detention from
metro-Atlanta, where drug abuse has been a major problem for years.

"They're dealing with a new problem (outside of Atlanta), and they're
dealing with it strongly," he said.

The report recommends that the department step up its
alternatives-to-incarceration programs, which are geared toward non-violent
youths.

"We need to reduce our reliance on secure, state-operated facilities ...
and start looking at other options," said Juvenile Justice Commissioner
Orlando Martinez. "They exist in community settings, which are less
expensive because the kids don't need that level of security."

Martinez has stressed such "community corrections" as probation, group
homes and foster care since he joined the department last year, and the
department's last two annual budget requests have reflected that commitment.