New SPLC Report Grapples With Aftereffects Of Georgia’s School-To-Prison Pipeline

By Southern Poverty Law Center Photos: YouTube Screenshots ATLANTA — Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a report denouncing the glaring racial disparities and systemic failures inherent within Georgia’s youth legal system. The report, Only Young Once: Dismantling Georgia’s Punitive Youth Incarceration System, examines how Georgia’s justice system fails and isolates youth by emphasizing incarceration over support and services. This prejudicial trend and the laws that support it undermine the future of countless Black children, who are disproportionately impacted by the state’s harmful youth legal system. “This report is a wake-up call,” says Delvin Davis, senior policy analyst, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the report’s author. “Georgia’s youth legal system, which was designed to incarcerate and punish, is not just outdated—its policies are actively harming our young people and communities. The SPLC’s Only Young Once report presents a clear path forward to creating a system that is fair, effective, and focused on rehabilitation.” Only Young Once seeks to inform the public about the intent that fuels Georgia’s school-to-prison pipeline, which include zero-tolerance disciplinary policies that ship students to alternative schools, inadequate funding for mental health and support services and racial bias in school discipline. These factors contribute to...