MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced Wednesday that the D.A.’s Office has expanded its juvenile transfer policy to include requesting that a juvenile age 16 or older be tried as an adult if the juvenile is charged with using a firearm on school grounds. Specifically, in addition to a number of gun crimes already covered by the policy, if a juvenile age 16 or older is charged with aggravated assault or reckless endangerment for using a gun on school property, the D.A.’s Office will automatically request the juvenile be transferred to criminal court.
Other violent gun crimes—both on and off school property—are already covered by the policy. The D.A.’s Office in 2003 implemented an across-the-board policy to request a transfer when a juvenile is 16 years of age or older and is charged with first degree murder, second degree murder, rape, aggravated rape, aggravated robbery, especially aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, or criminal attempt to commit any of the those offenses.
Under the expanded policy, the D.A.’s Office will continue to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to seek a transfer if a juvenile age 16 or older brings a gun to school, but does not use it.
Under the policy, the D.A.’s Office carefully reviews cases involving any violent crimes where the juvenile charged is younger than 16 years old and is eligible for transfer. If appropriate, the D.A.’s Office requests a transfer, especially in cases where the juvenile has committed a gang-related crime, the crime was aggressive or premeditated, or the juvenile’s previous delinquency record shows a resistance to rehabilitation within the juvenile justice system. Under Tennessee law, if a juvenile is 15 years or younger, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment for use of a weapon—at school or elsewhere—are not among the crimes for which the juvenile may be tried as adult.
Ultimately, under Tennessee law, the Juvenile Court judge decides whether a juvenile should be tried as an adult. The D.A.’s policy clarifies the cases in which the office will ask Juvenile Court to make a transfer.
“Parents and students have a right to expect our schools to be safe havens. We must not let recent incidents create a domino effect that turns schools into danger zones,” said District Attorney Gibbons, referring to two recent incidents at Hamilton and Mitchell High Schools in which students brought weapons to school and shot and wounded fellow students. In both of those cases, the D.A.’s Office will seek to transfer the juveniles charged with the shootings.
“We are not taking this step because we want to incarcerate juveniles and give them felony records,” Gibbons stressed. “We’re doing it primarily to deter young people from making bad choices,” he added.
The D.A. and his staff later this month will begin a tour of middle and high schools in Memphis and Shelby County to make certain students are aware of the juvenile transfer policy and to emphasize the consequences of committing violent crimes and involvement in criminal gang activity.
The District Attorney, or certain designated assistant D.A.s, may grant exceptions to this policy on rare occasions. In accord with state law, exceptions will also be made when there are reasonable grounds to believe the juvenile is developmentally disabled or mentally ill.
Juvenile Court transferred 156 juveniles to Criminal Court to be tried as adults in 2007. In 2006, the number of transfers was 158. That is a decrease from 172 transfers in 2005.
“Effectively tackling juvenile crime will take the entire community working together, including parents, school officials, faith community leaders, law enforcement, and juveniles themselves. I want to make sure the District Attorney’s office is doing the most it can do under our state laws,” Gibbons noted. |