Bibb County Superior Court Judge Verda Colvin spoke to troubled teens as part of the “Consider the Consequences” program and she delivered a very powerful message.
Early on in the speech, Colvin brought out a body bag.
She said “You can have the ultimate experience — you can be in this body bag. And the only way somebody will know you’re in here is this tag with your name on it. What do you wanna do?”
With the girls on one side and the boys on the other, Colvin took the time to speak to both.
For the teen girls, she expressed the importance of self-respect.
“You’re special, you’re uniquely made,” Colvin said. “Stop acting like you’re trash and putting pictures of yourself on the internet. Stop being disrespectful to your parents. Care about your future. Be somebody.”
For the boys, she discussed the realities of life in prison.
“Somebody raping you in the middle of the night, and there’s nothing you can do but just lay there. Cause guess what — everybody got to get their turn. So it’s your turn, cause you’re the new meat on the block,” she told them.
The judge addressed the imprisonment rates in the black community.
“I am sick and tired of seeing people who look like you and I come in my courtroom and I have to sentence them to prison,” she said.
Judge Colvin became emotional, and so did the children. Other officers walked around holding tissues, and the Judge dabbed her eyes as she spoke to the teens about turning their lives around.
“When I see you all hurting, it makes me hurt too. Because I don’t even know you all personally, but I love each and every one of you. And I don’t want you to come to my courtroom and I have to send you as an adult, at the age of 17. I don’t want that. I don’t want to experience that myself, and I don’t want you all to experience that,” she said, grabbing a tissue.
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[Featured Image Credit: Facebook- Bibb Country Sheriff’s Office]
Judge Uses Body Bag To Deliver Powerful Message To Troubled Teens is an article from: LifeDaily