One of the highlights of former Gov. Nathan Deal’s eight years in office was his focus on criminal justice reform, eventually resulting in a series of bills that drew praise from both sides of the aisle. Much of that work was then used by President Donald Trump and his team in 2018 as the White House pushed its own prison reform legislation. Now out of office, Deal is continuing his work, leading a team of experts that is submitting recommendations via the nonprofit Council on Criminal Justice. Joined by former mayors, law enforcement officials, ex-prisoners, and even Sally Yates, the Georgia attorney who served as U.S. deputy attorney general under President Barack Obama, the group, with Deal at its helm, is leading the push for continued sensible criminal justice reform in Washington D.C. RISING…
Let’s Seek Standardized Teacher Preparation
It is time that we look more closely at how we train teachers. If we have committed to the idea of using standardized testing to measure student success, then we also need to commit to the idea of standardized preparation and training for our teachers. The...Why Proposed Hate Crimes Act Does Not Pass Go
With renewed interest to pass a hate crimes law, lawmakers urgently claim pending Georgia House Bill 426, the Georgia Hate Crimes Act, would fill the void. The Peach State’s former hate crime statute was struck down in 2004, leaving Georgia one of few remaining...Gang Charging: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
In an exclusive to InsiderAdvantage the Georgia Gang Investigators Association (GGIA) released its 2019 county-by-county summary of criminal arrest warrant numbers under Code Section 16-15-4. That is the charging section of Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and...Even with COVID-19, a great day to be alive
“It’s a Great Day to Be Alive.” That song by Georgian Travis Tritt has the power of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” but is an optimistic view of life verses Springsteen’s pessimistic view of America. Tritt recognizes there are hard times, but even in the...Don’t let public health misinformation lead to bad tax policy
The Georgia General Assembly’s chief fiscal economist warned last year that Georgia might face a recession in 2020. Boy was he right, but for the wrong reasons. No one could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic or its effects in September of 2019. Nevertheless,...
