Six months ago, a tragic school shooting in Winder shook our sense of safety. I have three children in Atlanta Public Schools, and like other parents, I want strong protections that keep my kids safe. However, in the rush to help prevent similar tragedies, well-intentioned Georgia lawmakers now risk doing more harm than good with Senate Bill (SB) 61.
The drastic punishments contained in SB 61 resemble the failed zero tolerance policies of Georgia’s past. The bill expands the definition of “terroristic threat” for juveniles, designates up to twenty new felony offenses for youth, and pushes kids into adult court. While this might sound tough on school violence, piling on felonies for childish missteps won’t prevent the next tragedy—and it could instead destroy young lives in the process.
Georgia Appleseed provides legal support to help children and their families access a meaningful and safe education. In the weeks after Winder, 50% of the legal referrals we received involved children accused of making so-called “threats.” Nearly all have involved routine childhood behavior misinterpreted as criminal—children cutting pretend guns out of paper, making inappropriate jokes, or having emotional outbursts due to their young age or disability. In fact, a third of our cases involved children with autism or other disabilities.
Schools are not safer when childish acts like these are escalated into felony charges. It’s far more likely that already-limited resources will be funneled into investigating trivial incidents rather than identifying genuine threats. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, schools reported 16,503 incidents of “threats” statewide. If even a fraction were referred for prosecution under SB 61’s provisions, our justice system would be quickly overwhelmed. That’s not just bad for the accused child; it undermines overall school safety.
We know that students thrive in schools where they feel safe, supported, and heard. By contrast, overly broad “threat” laws like SB 61 create a chilling effect: When kids believe any mention of violence—no matter how innocent—could lead to expulsion or arrest, they are reluctant to share information that could prevent violence. They fear being labeled an accomplice or dooming their classmate to time in juvenile detention or even adult prison. What happens to students once they’re expelled or charged? Their right to a meaningful education all but disappears and their chance of graduating from high school plummets.
If legislators truly want to prevent future school tragedies, they should look to House Bill 268, sponsored by Rep. Holt Persinger, who represents Winder’s district. It invests in proven strategies that will make schools safer without criminalizing students, such as: expanding mental health services, preventive programs, and positive behavioral interventions; and implementing behavioral health threat assessments (BTAM) in schools to determine which threats are credible and merit further attention.
Multidisciplinary teams of trained administrators, mental health and special education professionals, and law enforcement perform BTAMs. Studies of nearly 25,000 cases in Florida and Virginia found that when schools conducted a BTAM to assess the credibility and seriousness of threats, only 1% resulted in arrest, and just a fraction of those resulted in detention. BTAM programs could reduce the number of non-dangerous children who are exposed to much more dangerous behaviors in our juvenile detention centers and adult prisons, dramatically reducing their chances of success.
Georgia has the opportunity to keep our schools safe without turning our children into felons for making common mistakes that pose no real danger. The data shows that HB 268 is a more effective approach to school safety than SB 61. We need meaningful solutions that head off violence before it can happen and protect all of our children.
Michael Waller is executive director of the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.
