Court Opinion

ID: 9584048
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:44:10.20317+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:05:44.400103
License: Public Domain

Eldridge, Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur fully with the majority. Georgia’s statute defining the offense of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” OCGA § 16-12-1 (b) (1), clearly calls for a defendant to encourage or aid the child in the actual commission of a delinquent act, although under OCGA § 16-12-1 (c), such child need not be formally adjudicated therefor.
I write separately, however, to encourage our legislature to reconsider this approach. As noted by the majority most jurisdictions do not require the child to actually commit the delinquent act before the defendant can be found guilty of encouraging and/or abetting its commission. This would seem logical. Society as a whole is best served when an adult who encourages illegal behavior in a child is stopped before the child can act on such encouragement. Law enforcement should not be forced to sit by idly waiting for a child to commit a criminal act in order to hold accountable the adult who promoted it. In short, an adult’s otherwise criminal behavior should not be contingent upon taking the child down with him or her.