The number of complaints for serious and violent crimes filed with juvenile justice is on the rise, state data shows. Over the last few months there have been four young people who have been arrested related to three separate homicide incidents. Three of those suspects were just 14 years old.
“These kids need a voice,” said William Lassiter, the deputy secretary for juvenile justice at the state Department of Public Safety. “They need an advocate; someone that will speak up for them because they don’t have that.”
Lassiter oversees the state’s detention centers, a correctional facility for youth starting as young as 10 who are accused of crimes and considered a public safety risk. As of Tuesday, there were 381 young people in those facilities. That’s 40 more kids than the system can house and a 178% increase since before the pandemic.