In 2022, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that three teenagers died within weeks of each other in Georgia’s youth detention facilities – one after participating in a “fight game” in front of a correctional officer – drawing scrutiny to how incarcerated youth in Georgia are treated. However, these reports of abuse told a troublesome narrative of Georgia’s youth incarceration that has been around for decades – one where Black children are disproportionately harmed.
In our latest report, Only Young Once: Dismantling Georgia’s Punitive Youth Incarceration System, we investigate not only policies and practices producing harm and racial disparities in Georgia’s youth legal system, but also the political culture that undergirds it. In Georgia, overemphasis on punishment pushes Black children out of traditional schools and promotes the prosecution of children as young as 13 as adults for certain offenses.
“In order to disrupt Georgia’s school-to-prison pipeline and the impacts of youth incarceration, we also have to adopt reforms and disrupt the culture that keeps punitive measures popular,” said Delvin Davis, SPLC senior policy analyst and author of the report. “Otherwise, Georgia’s youth prisons will continue to harm generations of Black youth – just as they were designed to do.”
Read the report
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Other reports
This is the fifth and final report in our series about youth incarceration in the Deep South:
- Alabama: Only Young Once: Alabama’s Overreliance on School Pushout and For-Profit Youth Incarceration
- Florida: Only Young Once: The Systemic Harm of Florida’s School-to-Prison Pipeline and Youth Legal System
- Louisiana: Only Young Once: The Urgent Need for Reform of Louisiana’s Youth Justice System
- Mississippi: Only Young Once: The Case for Mississippi’s Investment in Youth Decarceration
Illustration at top by Therrious Davis.
