MAKING BAD CHOICES

Making bad choices is the number one reason young people end up in the prison system.  They don’t consider the consequences of their actions.  Most of them don’t know what the consequences are until it’s too late.  When teens are convicted of armed robbery, they are shocked when they learn that the minimum time they will serve in prison in Georgia is ten years. And there is no time off for good behavior. “That’s too much time, I only took $17.00 and a cell phone” one young man pleaded with the court.  His cry fell on deaf ears.  The law is the same for every armed robbery conviction in Georgia.  I know a case where four young men were convicted of arm robbery and three were sentenced to 10 years in prison.  One agreed to plead guilty and testify against the others and was sentenced to 5 years in prison on a lesser charge.  The victim only had $25.00.  The time they spent in prison for the crime comes out to be less than $1.00 a year.  And they didn’t even get to keep the $25.00.