MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Thursday, Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon addressed the state of juvenile crime to the Frayser community.
After voters elected Judge Sugarmon in the summer of 2022, he pledged to overhaul how young people are rehabilitated and punished.
In the 18 months and 15 days since taking office, Judge Sugarmon said he has focused on being data-driven in deciding where specific efforts need to be prioritized.
“The greatest opportunity to turn a child around is when they’re younger, before they're starting to develop patterns of behavior that are problematic," he said.
The judge said those efforts start by investing in children and families in need early.
“Really going upstream to look at where the problems actually start,” he said.
Recent data showed juvenile charges in Shelby County surged 30 percent between late 2022 and late 2023. However, Judge Sugarmon said that recidivism by first-time offenders is down to around 25 percent.
Judge Sugarmon said they found that two thirds of their cases involve families who are under-resourced to meet the needs of their children. To help change that, the judge created the new role of Youth Development Specialist, who will help connect families with specific programs.
“Teaching a family that a child needs a certain amount of hours of sleep before they go to school the next day,” he said. “Helping them with things like challenge with housing insecurity, food insecurity.”
Additionally, juvenile court has changed its volunteer Auxiliary Probation Officers to Youth Family Advocates, who will partner with the Youth Development Specialists.
Marcus Haynes, one of the community members at the meeting, said he spent 20 years volunteering in that capacity and has seen it work.
“We didn’t have the crime that we have now with juvenile offenses, and we had to go in the homes and supervise the kids and the parents as well,” he said.
Fellow Frayser resident Edith Moore said she's ready to help however she can.
“If it’s nothing but just to pick up the phone and call a child or the mother and say, ‘How are you doing today?” she said.
Judge Sugarmon said they've budgeted for 21 new Youth Development Specialists.