Cobb County Solicitor General Makia Metzger Launches Youthful Offender Pretrial Diversion Program

(Marietta, Georgia) Cobb County Solicitor General Makia Metzger has launched a youthful offender pretrial diversion program. The program started in March 2024 and targets youth and young adults facing non-violent misdemeanor charges.

"Studies show that 17–to-25-year-olds' frontal lobes aren't fully formed as this part of the brain is still developing, a factor that leads to poor decisions, a lack of discernment, good judgment, and impulse control,” Solicitor General Makia Metzger said. When young people commit nonviolent offenses, they aren't thinking that the impulsive decisions they make today will adversely affect them tomorrow."

Solicitor General Metzger began the program to create new pathways for success in a community that needs innovation to deal with 21st-century problems most of our parents didn’t have to worry about. “I wanted to be creative with their cases because, with limited resources and traditional approaches to prosecution, I didn’t feel like we were serving our community in a way that reduces recidivism and stops crime,” Solicitor General Metzger said. “I will fight for domestic violence victims even when they have been beaten down and feel they can’t fight for themselves.” We will try cases to ensure victims’ voices are heard, and those who wish to hurt others understand that our community will not accept violence.

Ms. Metzger serves as a strong victim rights advocate and supporter of mental health programs, and she is working hard to institute a more hands on approach to those suffering with mental health disorders so that they too can lead healthy productive lives in Cobb County.

In Cobb County history, Solicitor General Metzger was sworn in as the first African American and female Solicitor General.