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According to the National Juvenile Justice Network, more than 200,000 youth are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults each year in the United States.<\/p>\n
MEMPHIS, Tenn. \u2014 With the growing number of crimes committed by youth, many wonder what can be done once a juvenile enters the justice system. Depending on the crime, some are tried as adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
We spoke with Shelby County advocates working to ensure fair and safe laws for juveniles who commit crimes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
According to the National Juvenile Justice Network<\/a>, more than 200,000 youth are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults each year in the United States. We sat down with the Countywide Juvenile Justice Consortium<\/a> (CJJC). They are a community outreach program tracking the progress of juvenile court in Memphis and Shelby County.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n RELATED: 15-year-old charged with first-degree murder in death of Memphis church leader<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n When it comes to cases where juveniles are tried as adults, it is sometime a question punishment versus rehabilitation. \u201cThis is especially specific to our city because we try to transfer more young people as adults than the rest of Tennessee combined,\u201d said Zahra Chowdhury, CJJC Youth Representative. \u201cWhy is just one county in our state taking up 55% of juvenile justice transfers?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Although Shelby County has more youth tried as adults, the county\u2019s annual report<\/a> shows a decrease in transferred cases. From 2017 to 2019, the numbers have fluctuated from 92 to 78 to 90. It dropped to 49 youth in 2020 and 40 in 2021. \u201cWe should be doing more for our young people. We shouldn\u2019t be trying to pipeline them or putting them into more contact with a system that might not be right for them,\u201d said Chowdhury.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Van Turner, Memphis Branch NAACP President<\/a>, said the goal should be rehabilitation. \u201cIf you put them further in the system and try those juveniles as adults, it\u2019s probably no way they can return back,\u201d said Turner. \u201cIt does not improve the community or assist the community in resolving the issue of crime when we are taking juveniles who could be rehabilitated and putting them in a system where we know there\u2019s less likely chance of them being rehabilitated. That\u2019s in the adult system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n