Columns:: Digest

since 12/15/98

Columns::February 10, 2003

Digest

Peach State Poll: Georgians want flexible justice system for juvenile offenders
Georgians generally see punishment as the purpose of the criminal justice system but are inclined to favor rehabilitation (60 percent) when the offender is younger than 18 years of age, according to the latest Peach State Poll, conducted this past fall by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Poll results clearly indicate that the public supports greater flexibility in the courts when defendants are minors. For example, an overwhelming majority (81 percent) prefers giving judges flexibility when sentencing minors rather than handing down the same mandatory sentences that apply to adult offenders. Georgians also prefer to see minors charged with violent crimes tried in juvenile court (51 percent) as opposed to trying them in the same courts as adults (27 percent).
Other survey results:
• The general public in Georgia favors the use of capital punishment for convicted murderers, but this support does not extend to cases involving minors as the perpetrator. Sixty percent of the public believes that the courts should not be permitted to impose capital punishment in cases in which a minor is found guilty of murder; only 23 percent of the public say that the court should be permitted to sentence minors to death.
• Forty-six percent of respondents cited poor parenting or dysfunctional family life as the primary cause leading juveniles to commit serious crimes.

Students win seminar exchange award
UGA’s Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute and the Medical College of Georgia have selected two UGA doctoral students and two MCG doctoral students for the first MCG/UGA Student Exchange Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research.
The award, created to foster research interactions between UGA and MCG, honors the overall scientific merit and quality of the students’ work, as well as the mastery of their scientific field and their verbal presentation skills.
Four awards are to be presented annually, two to UGA students and two to MCG students. The winners receive a cash award of $250, an award certificate and an invitation to present a research seminar at the other university with travel and accommodations provided. MCG and BHSI will host respective award recipients individually this spring semester.
UGA’s recipients for 2002-2003 are Andrew B. Reams, a doctoral student in microbiology, and Lowell Y.M. Rayburn, a doctoral student in genetics. MCG’s recipients are Brett M. Mitchell, a third-year doctoral student in physiology, and Chadwick M. Hales, a third-year doctoral student in molecular medicine.

Grad students receive scholarship awards
Several graduate students in UGA’s educational leadership program received scholarship awards at an awards luncheon at the College of Education’s Rivers Crossing Building.
Eleanor Sikes and Kathy Kelley were presented the David J. Mullen Sr. Memorial Scholarship Award, given to doctoral candidates in the educational leadership program preparing for a public school position. The $1,000 scholarship is nonrenewable and is awarded during the year of writing the doctoral dissertation.
Joy Tolbert and Rex Wallace received the Carroll Wade McGuffey Scholarship Award, given to doctoral students whose studies include research into the impact of the school’s physical environment on teacher behavior, pupil behavior and/or pupil learning.
Kim Halstead and Marcus Beaver were presented the Ray E. Bruce Scholarship Award, $500 in academic support of two or more students studying for graduate degrees in educational leadership.

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