Tennessee lawmakers intend to build on last year’s mandatory-minimum “truth in sentencing” law with several bills that treat juveniles as adults in more circumstances.

More minors could be tried as adults — and sent to adult prisons — for violent crimes, and those in Tennessee Department of Children’s Services detention centers could be tried as adults for trying to escape.

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There were 907 total serious delinquent charges against 544 juveniles in Memphis and Shelby County in 2022, an increase of 25.1% compared to 2020, according to data from the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission. Exact figures on the number of juvenile crimes committed aren’t available, but local law enforcement leaders contend juveniles have more access to guns and are becoming more violent, including pointing to dramatic increases in car jackings and auto thefts involving juveniles. 

A statewide committee on juvenile justice met regularly through the second half of 2022, hearing from state agencies, juvenile court judges, law enforcement, prosecutors and others, and released a list of recommendations in January.

Those recommendations included standardized data collection and sharing between courts in different jurisdictions, expanding mental health services in youth detention centers and replacing the Wilder Youth Development Center in Fayette County.

Many legislative proposals, especially those from outside the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Juvenile Justice, reflect a tough-on-crime approach, pivoting from former Gov. Bill Haslam’s moderate juvenile justice reform effort in 2018.

Some of them could test the limits of the constitution’s protections for juvenile offenders; last fall, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that life sentences for minors are unconstitutional.

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“Right now, there’s a long process if you’re trying to try a juvenile as an adult that is very complex and hard to get across the finish line,” said state House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) at a Feb. 16 press conference. “We’re gonna try to clean that up.”

Lawmakers have faced increased pressure to reform the juvenile justice system since Disability Rights Tennessee and the Youth Law Center published a report last year alleging physical and sexual abuse, a lack of educational and mental health resources and other problems at Wilder, which is run by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. That pressure has grown as multiple news organizations in recent years have shone a spotlight on the dysfunction at DCS, which runs the state’s foster system and juvenile detention centers.

State Sen. Page Walley (R-Savannah), who co-chaired the committee and is a former DCS commissioner, said at a Jan. 25 hearing that the recommendations are “a very useful combination of redemptive, restorative for these young men, young women and their families, for our communities.”

“But also,” he continued, “it’s going to allow for some accountability that we know is important when we’re also charged with making sure that communities feel secure and safe and that services are provided in a constitutional manner.”

In addition to the committee, lawmakers sought opinions from representatives of the conservative organizations Americans for Prosperity and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on Feb. 20 and 21. Most of the proposals have not yet made progress in committees.

Greg Glod, senior policy fellow for criminal justice at Americans for Prosperity, said fear of crime — among both citizens and lawmakers — was a major theme in his discussions with lawmakers. Tennessee is one of the most “onerous” states for sentencing of both adults and juveniles, he said in an interview.

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Blended sentencing

Just a few years ago, lawmakers attempted to limit juvenile court judges’ discretion to impose sentences deemed too long; now, there’s an effort to limit judges’ discretion by requiring them to send minors to adult court in certain circumstances. That is competing with other proposals to give juvenile judges power over people after they age out of the juvenile system.

Legislation to keep juveniles in the system for longer, either through blended sentencing or extended juvenile court jurisdiction, has received bipartisan support from Tennessee lawmakers.

State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) is sponsoring a bill allowing judges to impose blended sentences against minors 16 and older. If convicted of a crime that would be an A, B or C felony if committed by an adult, they would face their juvenile court sentence and could be subject to adult probation until they turn 25. 

Democrats are sponsoring legislation that would keep juveniles in the justice system past the age of 19, but instead of going to the adult system after their 18th birthday, they would stay in the juvenile system. 

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State Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis) is sponsoring a bill that would establish a pilot project to extend the juvenile court’s jurisdiction in Davidson or Shelby counties. The juvenile courts could choose to proceed with a case against a minor that could be transferred to adult court as an extended juvenile court jurisdiction case and allow the child to remain in the juvenile system until they turn 24.

State Rep. Ronnie Glynn (D-Clarksville) is sponsoring a bill that would enact the Extended Juvenile Jurisdiction Act, which establishes a juvenile justice pilot program in Shelby County.

Other proposals

Here’s a rundown of some other proposals:

• State officials argue they need to expand bed capacity, adding space for 180-190 male juvenile offenders and about 25 female offenders.
• Another bill would expand the “incorrigible” designation, allowing DCS to transfer “extremely uncooperative and violent” 17-year-olds to adult prisons, according to a press release. That designation currently only applies to 18-year-olds.
• Mental health services would be available around the clock at DCS-run detention centers, and kids would have more access to faith-based counseling.
• A “step-down” pilot program at the Wilder Youth Development Center would “incentivize good behavior” and allow some juveniles to be transferred to “a homelike setting with more freedom.”
• Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) is sponsoring a bill that would require an audiovisual recording of police interrogations of juveniles.

The legislature is also considering a bill that would allow permitless carry for people as young as 18 years old. 

Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) said at separate press conferences on Feb. 16 that they support expanding addiction treatment and counseling for nonviolent offenders, but that they want more minors accused of certain violent crimes to be tried as adults.

“If they’re violent crimes against a person or persons, then you need to get tough,” McNally said.

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“You need to be tough,” Sexton echoed later that morning, “but you also need to have intervention programs, so you try to get them before they become violent. But when they become violent, you need to hold them accountable.”

Alice Marie Johnson, a Memphis criminal justice reform activist, said accountability is necessary, but excessive punishment is ineffective. She was convicted of drug trafficking-related offenses in the 1990s and sentenced to life in prison; former President Donald Trump commuted her sentence in 2020.

“I’m seeing too many repeat juvenile offenders,” she said in an interview. “I don’t think they’re given the necessary tools to be a success ... It should not be all about punishment for juveniles.”

Johnson said solutions must be “bottom-up” and rooted in local communities.

“I’ve never seen so many youths being involved in these violent crimes,” she said. “I see so many in the streets with nothing to do.”

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Dean Rivkin, a professor emeritus of law at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, served on two juvenile justice task forces that contributed to Haslam’s 2018 law and supports a reform approach. He said this year’s legislative package is “going to make things worse.”

“What I’m seeing now is ... a very superficial effort,” Rivkin said. “(It’s) hard to call it reform, and until there is adequate funding for this system and its ancillary systems — health, education, things that affect the quality of life for kids — I don’t think any kind of lipstick on the corpse is going to make much difference.”

2018 law sought reform, but was watered down

This year’s juvenile justice proposals represent a dramatic shift away from what former Gov. Bill Haslam attempted to accomplish in 2018.

Haslam used a great deal of political capital to push a reform law that year.

Former state Sen. Mark Norris (R-Collierville), who was the Senate majority leader at the time and is now a federal district court judge, sponsored the bill. Multiple sources said Norris was highly influential in winning the support of people with very different beliefs.

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Haslam’s proposal was for a politically moderate version of criminal justice reform, based more on evidence rather than punishment, and aimed at reducing costs to taxpayers.

He proposed funding for community-based programs, some of them administered by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS).

The bill attempted to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, aiming to keep kids out of jail for low-level offenses; Haslam noted repeatedly that youth are often arrested and detained for behavior that would not be considered a crime if it were committed by an adult — namely truancy. Juvenile court judges would have been prohibited from sending minors to prison for minor technical probation violations.

Crucially, the bill would have limited judges’ power to incarcerate kids for low-level offenses like missing school.

But it was amended at the request of some judges, who objected to their discretion being curtailed.

“It was one of the last real, genuine, kind of bipartisan efforts by the legislature to do something for kids, to do something for the justice system,” Rivkin said. He credited Norris’ leadership, but lamented the amendments that watered down the bill.

Lawmakers doubling down on crime in upcoming session

As a result, Rivkin and others said, the impact of the law has been minimal.

“It was grounded in data, there were lots of people consulted,” Rivkin said. “The effort just fell apart behind closed doors.”

Daily Memphian criminal justice reporter Julia Baker contributed to this report.