40 Years Later: Turning a DREAM into a REALITY! As we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., we declared 2008 The Year of Juvenile Justice Reform. Members of the Georgia General Assembly we ask that you support the African-American Juvenile Justice Project Report and Recommendations that re-write the juvenile laws of this state. There exist four areas of concern: The Department of Juvenile Justice, the School-to-Prison Pipeline, The Department of Family and Children Services and The Juvenile Court. The children of this state are suffering and we need each of you to pass new legislation that includes but is not limited to: preventing children from being incarcerated; preventing children from being displaced and removed from their homes and placed into foster care; assuring the DFCS provide parents of displaced children with resources for reunification; assuring that children will not go from the schoolhouse-to-the courthouse-to the jailhouse; and, assuring the juvenile judges are elected in open elections and are not appointed by superior court judges. If you ask why we cannot wait, we ask that you read Dr. King\'s classic letter, Letter from the Birmingham Jail. In doing so, you will note that he said he cannot wait because of the disparities he witnessed against African-Americans. We believe that AAJJP recommendations are not race specific; however, we note that the current laws have an adverse impact on African-American children and families. Therefore, we find it difficult to wait when we see our children go from schoolhouse to courthouse to jailhouse. We find it difficult to wait when we see disparities in sentencing because there are no sentencing guidelines and we find it difficult to wait when our children are disproportionately removed from their homes by DFCS and never reunified with their families. We ask that you act now! Share this information with your family, friends and colleagues! Participants, please provide your name, and also provide your zip code, district and/or name of your representative in the comment box. You do NOT need to make a donation to I-Petition. We will make the donation for use of this site.

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