Proposals to deal with rising juvenile crimes in Tennessee

Committee issues recommendations for lawmakers to turn into laws

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) – A committee appointed by Tennessee lawmakers has come out with some recommendations to tackle juvenile crimes.

Lawmakers appointed the Committee on Juvenile Justice last summer.

They were looking for ways to deal with rising juvenile crimes in Tennessee.

Here are the ideas they came up with:

— Sharing Records

Because we’re talking about juveniles, their records on what they did and how the courts addressed the issues do not follow them from court to court.  The proposal would allow judges to share the records so they are on the same page about what is going on with the juvenile.

— More beds

DCS needs 180-190 more beds for males plus 25 for females at DCS facilities

— Escape penalties

One of the reasons the committee was put together was because of a rash of high-profile escapes from youth development centers in Nashville. They propose stiffening the penalty for escaping and even letting prosecutors charge escapees as adults.

— “Incorrigible” juveniles

Dropping the age of “incorrigibe” status from 18 to 17.  That would let youth centers to transfer extreme cases to adult facilities.

— Age separation

Ask youth centers to separate more serious offenders over 16 from youthes under 16.

— More staff, better pay, better training, chaplins and a review committee

Now lawmakers will have to take the recommendations and turn them into laws.