Commission approves contract for new juvenile assessment center

On Monday, the Shelby County Commission approved a contract for a pilot program that will aim to divert youth away from delinquency.

There was no discussion on the item at Monday’s meeting. Rather, it passed unanimously as part of the consent agenda.

The resolution was for a $500,000 contract with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center - Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth with the option to renew for three additional one-year periods.

The money will go toward programming for a pilot of the Shelby County Youth Assessment Center, which has been in the works for years. Most commissioners optimistic

Commissioner Tami Sawyer said her concerns about the program were allayed after she met with Dr. Altha Stewart, director of the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth. Sawyer was able to ask questions about community policing, an advisory board and more.

“My concerns were definitely met with open eyes and ears, and so I had no reason to vote it down,” Sawyer said.

Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael has written that such a center “can help us prepare more children to become productive citizens by breaking the cycles that lead them down a path to delinquency.”

Although commissioners have spoken optimistically about a juvenile assessment center, others have raised concerns.

In October 2017, Bill Powell wrote in The Commercial Appeal that such a center could actually bring more youth into the justice system and might increase disproportionate contact with minority youth. Powell was settlement agreement coordinator for the U.S. Justice Department’s Memorandum of Agreement with Shelby County Juvenile Court from 2012 until he resigned in June.

Dorcas Young Griffin, director of community services for the county, told commissioners in a November committee meeting that an estimated 3,000 youth with lower-level offenses would be eligible to be diverted through the assessment center.

The pilot program will be voluntary, trauma-informed, family-centered and independent from the juvenile system, Griffin said.

“It is important that we make sure our youth are safe and taken care of,” she said in November.