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Juvenile Justice Commissioner Speaks After Sex Abuse Allegation Investigation

July 25th, 2013

Georgia’s Juvenile Justice Commissioner and other top Department of Juvenile Justice officials spoke out for the first time Thursday since the completion of an internal investigation.

The investigation found a backlog of 700 open cases, 141 of which had some type of sex abuse or harassment allegations. Three of those cases have been substantiated and another dozen are under investigation.

The investigation followed a federal survey where Georgia had one of the highest percentages of juveniles self-reporting they were sexually victimized in state detention facilities.

The Department of Juvenile Justice’s monthly board meeting started with Assistant Commissioner Mark Sexton fielding questions from board members like Dick Yarbrough.

“What have we learned out of all this?”

Sexton says it learned department investigators and the entire agency needs consistent guidance. He says the department has had significant leadership changes in the past 36-months, including Commissioner Avery Niles who is the department’s fifth commissioner in four years, an assistant commissioner and just this month a new director of investigations.

“I believe we’re going to go a long way with some standardized and stabilized leadership.”

Sexton also says juvenile justice officials are implementing a new review process, investigators are working to complete a number of the backlogged cases and will soon receive training from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Board members also heard from Commissioner Avery Niles.

“We’ve got things to do. We’ve got an issue that has come up and we’re going to do the right thing and move forward as an agency.”

After the meeting, Niles spoke briefly with the media. This was his response when asked how the department can ensure juveniles in state facilities are safe from sex abuse or harassment.

“We can only hope and put measures in place to prevent those type incidents from happening and wherever we investigate, wherever the chips fall that’s where they lie as it relates to the betterment of the agency.”

Niles says the department has terminated the three employees involved in the cases that have been substantiated. He also gave more details about the backlog in cases. Niles says the department knew about the backlog for months but did know specifics about the individual cases until it recently investigated the matter.