TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 13, 2023

A new bill introduced by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, would create a statutory framework for determining if youth are sent to juvenile or adult criminal court, Nashville Public Radio reports. Currently, when a juvenile is charged with a crime, they go to juvenile court with transfer to adult court used in the most serious cases. The bill would reverse that process, sending juveniles to adult court first but allowing criminal court judges in some circumstances to refer them to juvenile court. Depending on the child’s age, qualifying crimes could be murder, aggravated robbery or carjacking. Juvenile justice advocates are saying the change could have disastrous results. They also argue that the bill would take discretion away from juvenile judges, who have the expertise to weigh factors such as a young person’s mental health and history.