ATLANTA — Child advocates are speaking out following the senseless killings of teenagers and children across the metro Atlanta area amid a wave of violent crime.
Not only has the city seen children senselessly killed in some of the shootings, kids have also been arrested in some of the crimes.
The crime rate in Atlanta is alarming and it has thousands of people across the child and crime advocacy industry talking. But the ages of the people arrested for some of these crimes are also alarming.
On Monday night, a 15-year-old was arrested in a deadly shooting in Atlanta.
Last month, 15-year-old Diamond Johnson was shot and killed near school. Her killer still hasn’t been caught.
Four teenage girls were arrested for murder in Gwinnett last Friday.
Advocates for young people say mentors need to step in earlier in their lives.
"It was a terrible experience," Big Brothers Big Sisters Atlanta Executive Director Kwame Johnson said.
He was arrested when he was 17.
"I was a young person who made a lot of bad decisions, went to jail at a young age. So I know exactly and can relate to what's going on," he said.
His experience in jail made him believe mentorship makes a difference.
People stepped in to help him and he, in turn, extended a hand to other young people who were having a hard time at home or getting in trouble with the police.
He's the executive eirector of Big Brothers Big Sisters Atlanta and said their data proves 99% of the kids in their program never get in trouble with the criminal justice system.
"That's what helps people get on the right path. And that's what we need more of. It's right in front of us. Mentorship works, it's a solution," he said.
Other solutions are harder to come by.
Polly McKinney heads up advocacy for Voices for Georgia Children, a nonprofit that lobbies at the state legislature for policies that protect kids.
"A lot of the child policy over the centuries has been developed for the convenience of adults, and not the needs of the children," she said.
She said there needs to be stronger mental health programs in schools, starting in elementary school. She said there also needs to be support for kids who are hungry, homeless, or living in fear.
"A lot of times, adults will say, why did you do that? And they won't say, what happened to you to make you do that," she said.
The juvenile justice system plays a role too, she said. McKinney said if they were arrested for minor issues, they should get help, not jail time.
The most recent data available, from 2014-2018, from the GBI, shows juvenile arrest rates are going down. More than 23,000 kids were arrested in the state during 2020 and it wasn't just for small offenses. More than 4,000 teenagers were arrested for assault in 2018 and 52 were arrested for murder.
"When children act out, or do something so extreme, it is, many times, the only thing they can think of to help them feel like they're going to survive," she said.
She said early intervention in a child's life can change the course of it.
Johnson said he's living proof of that.
"Young people won't wake up tomorrow and say, hey, I want to commit a crime. Many are in tough situations they don't know how to figure out," he said.