A new bill would funnel more kids into adult court. Advocates say it would cause damage that ‘can’t be undone.’

House Speaker Cameron Sexton introduced a bill that would funnel more kids into the adult criminal court system. Juvenile justice advocates are concerned it could have disastrous results.  

Right now, when a child is charged with a crime, they go to the juvenile court — which is focused on intervention and rehabilitation.

It’s a last resort to transfer that kid to adult court, which has a greater emphasis on punishment.

Sexton’s bill would reverse that process for children charged with certain crimes — moving them into adult court first. Depending on the child’s age, qualifying crimes could be murder, aggravated robbery, or carjacking.

Kathy Sinback, director of the ACLU of Tennessee, says it would take discretion away from juvenile judges, who have the expertise to weigh factors such as mental health and history.

“When you take away all of the considerations that need to go into the transfer decision and you make it just based on the charge, you are not looking at what their likelihood is of being successful in the future and the best way to help them become contributing adults,” Sinback says.

Research shows that kids sent to the adult system are more likely to be re-arrested, and have worse long-term outcomes.

“There are all sorts of negative effects that can’t be undone once a child is transferred to the adult system,” she says. “It makes it hard for them to go to college. It makes it hard for them to get jobs. It really starts them out on the wrong foot. And we should be trying to help children be successful when they become adults.”

And in Tennessee, once a child is charged in adult court, they will never be legally considered a juvenile again.

Under the bill, criminal court judges who see these cases would have the option to transfer kids down to juvenile court, but Sinback says it would be rare.

“It makes the circumstances where children can be transferred back to the juvenile system very, very narrow,” she says.

As a result, she says the change could overload adult criminal courts.

“The fiscal impact of this will be just like nothing we’ve seen before in the criminal court system in Tennessee,” she says.

The bill is just the latest in a string of Republican-backed measures that take a tough-on-crime approach to sentencing.