More beds, more oversight: Report identifies needs in Tennessee’s juvenile justice system

Does Tennessee have enough bed space for justice-involved youth? That was the question that lawmakers ordered the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to study.

Now, TACIR has released its report on juvenile bed space just a few months after a state audit found that the Department of Children’s Services continued to be overly reliant on housing children in state office buildings. It also comes on the heels of a bill proposing to allow DCS to filter foster kids into juvenile justice facilities.

The TACIR report found that there is not enough space for children who are awaiting court dates in West Tennessee. While Shelby County’s juvenile detention center has more than 100 beds, officials in other parts of West Tennessee reported there is rarely space for children from surrounding counties. Those places end up transporting children to facilities in Middle and East Tennessee, placing them further from family and increasing transportation costs.

After a child is adjudicated delinquent — the juvenile court’s equivalent of being found guilty of a crime — they are sent to post-adjudication facilities. Researchers found that there will be enough capacity in these placements once DCS completes the construction of new high-security buildings that were allocated for in the agency’s 2023 Real Estate Plan. The General Assembly appropriated more than $300 million for these new facilities. TACIR found that should be enough to accommodate juvenile justice kids for the next decade.

‘Building more oversight’

While the state is eyeing more jail-like facilities, researchers recommend that DCS and lawmakers consider using resources for less-punitive approaches to kids. Young people have the best outcomes if they can be placed in homes or community-based programs, research shows, instead of jail-like facilities that the state is building.

This report comes as juvenile crime in Tennessee and across the nation has trended down.

Researchers indicate that certain types of crimes have been rising over the last decade, like those committed with guns. The increase coincides with a 2013 law that allowed Tennesseans to carry their guns in their cars like an extension of their home, often referred to as “guns in trunks.” Since then, many juveniles have been caught car-hopping — trying the doors of vehicles to see if they are locked. Inside, they find unsecured guns that are then used in other types of crimes. Researchers also indicate that other Tennessee-specific laws, like the threats of mass violence laws, may impact the number of juveniles involved in the justice system moving forward.

TACIR ends with a recommendation for more oversight of juvenile justice facilities across the state. It references a 2024 law that was introduced after WPLN and ProPublica’s reporting on the illegal use of solitary confinement at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center in Knoxville. The bill would have taken oversight of juvenile facilities away from DCS and given it to a third-party — but it did not pass.

“Focusing on capacity increases alone won’t necessarily improve outcomes for youth in custody or the communities in which they live,” the report reads. “Building more oversight into the juvenile justice system could help maintain better standards of care for youth in custody.”