Youthful offenders need rehabilitation after age 19
Blended sentencing offers an opportunity for many serious youthful offenders who would otherwise be trapped in a cycle of gun and gang violence to break out of that cycle and become productive members of our community.
The purpose of our state’s juvenile justice system is to provide “… a program of treatment, training and rehabilitation.”
Yet, there is an arbitrary age limit on the ability of juvenile courts to achieve that purpose. Under current state law, whether in a secure facility or in the community, supervision under our juvenile system ends no later than the offender’s 19th birthday.
Take a 17-year-old repeat carjacker. Whether you are for accountability or rehabilitation – and I’m for both – ending all supervision upon the offender’s 19th birthday is not acceptable. The only alternative currently under state law is to transfer the juvenile offender to the adult system.
We need a third option.
Bill would eliminate the 19th birthday arbitrary limit and extend the jurisdiction of juvenile courts over serious juvenile offenders, known as ‘blended sentencing’
Tennessee legislation would extend time for rehabilitation
Legislation (Senate Bill 624/House Bill 430) is pending before the Tennessee General Assembly to provide that third option by eliminating the current 19th birthday arbitrary limit and extending the jurisdiction of juvenile courts over serious juvenile offenders, providing more time for rehabilitation. Such an approach is referred to as “blended sentencing.”
Under the legislation, upon being designated a “serious youthful offender” for committing a serious felony offense, the juvenile court judge would impose an additional disposition beyond the offender’s 19th birthday. The juvenile court judge could then stay the additional disposition pending a hearing near the offender’s 19th birthday to determine whether the offender has met certain conditions or needs more time for rehabilitation.
Anyone 18 years old or older who is charged with a crime is automatically treated as an adult. Just like anyone else, if a designated serious youthful offender was charged with a new crime after turning 18, the offender would automatically be tried as an adult for the new crime. But extending rehabilitative services pursuant to a juvenile court order would reduce the likelihood of that person becoming a repeat offender as an adult. That would benefit both the offender and the community.
Debunking myths about blended sentencing
Some critics of the blended sentencing legislation seem unaware of its intent, believing it is an attempt to warehouse serious youthful offenders. That is simply incorrect. Currently, very few serious juvenile offenders found to be delinquent by juvenile courts end up in secure facilities but rather are supervised in the community. That would not change, if for no other reason than the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) has very limited secure bed space for those offenders.
Some critics call an extended blended sentence an “adult sentence” with a strong likelihood of serving it in an adult prison. That is incorrect. The possible additional disposition beyond an offender’s 19th birthday is an extension of the juvenile justice system and the jurisdiction of juvenile courts. Juvenile court judges would be able to impose an additional time for community supervision with appropriate rehabilitative services.
Some of the confusion may be because the legislation places responsibility for any supervision after the offender’s 19th birthday with the state’s Department of Correction rather than DCS.
DCS is simply not equipped to supervise youthful offenders in their 20s. Historically, our juvenile system was in fact the responsibility of the Department of Correction, with that department overseeing our state’s juvenile system up until the mid-1990s. It can do so again for the limited purpose of handling blended sentencing beyond the offender’s 19th birthday. That would involve setting up a special program for community supervision separate from standard adult probation and, in those rare cases where a secure facility was appropriate, setting up an operation separate from the standard adult prison population, as required by the legislation.
Poll shows people want rehabilitation for juveniles after they turn 19
In recent years, Shelby County has averaged about 500 juveniles charged with serious violent crimes per year, with aggravated assaults – usually with a gun – and carjackings being the top two categories.
Of course, that figure is arguably the tip of the iceberg since it only represents those incidents that have been solved.
In a recent public opinion poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the Crime Commission, an overwhelming 87% of respondents felt the current law should be changed so that serious violent juvenile offenders would be able to receive rehabilitative services beyond their 19th birthdays.
Blended sentencing will improve our juvenile justice system. It will result in more accountability and help salvage the lives of many youthful offenders before they continue down the path of criminal behavior.
Bill Gibbons serves as president of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission and executive director of the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute. He is a former district attorney for Shelby County and commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. He has also served on the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Board of Commissioners.