MEMPHIS, Tenn. — WREG has told you about the high number of juveniles in Shelby County who have been sent to adult court over the years.
It’s rare to hear from those young people in their own words, but April Thompson had the chance to sit down with Sallina Brandon, a college bound student who is miles from where she was headed 4 years ago when she stabbed her boyfriend in the chest.
“I was getting bullied in school. A lot of things were happening and I let my emotions get out of hand,” Brandon said. “I didn’t realize what I was doing til after it happened. ”
She was just 13 at the time.
Her boyfriend survived, but the severity of the crime had her on the road to being tried as an adult.
“I was gonna go to jail and be there a very long time,” she said.
Judge Dan Michael, who was then Juvenile Court Chief Magistrate, saw something else in Brandon.
“I saw in that young lady when she first came before me, potential. She was bright. She had a really tough life,” recalled Judge Michael.
“What she had done was a terrible deed and I held her responsible for that. The prosecutor wanted me to send her downtown to stand trial as an adult. At 14 years of age, had she been convicted of attempted first degree murder or even second degree attempted murder, the next 30 years of her life would have been behind bars,” he added.
Instead of transferring her to Criminal Court, he kept her in juvenile for 3 years and got her counseling and family therapy.
The angry young girl began to flourish, realizing her passion for poetry.
She even won a poetry contest and was accepted into the University of Memphis.
Brandon knows it could have been very different.
So do many others.
Tevonne Jones did go to prison at 16.
He was one of five juveniles who carjacked and kidnapped a woman in 1993.
“It got out of hand so fast because I had no idea where I really was,” said Jones.
“I am not only dealing with fear. I am dealing with peer pressure, fear, all kinds of emotions. I am scared. I know we got these guns on us,” he added.
He was sentenced to 5 years in the state pen, a place he told WREG is no place for kids.
“You talk about a life changing experience. I have seen a lot of death. People get stabbed, full-grown men get raped. I have seen men get beat up. It really does something to the mind when you are a young man,” said Jones.
Judge Michael said a child’s mind isn’t ready for adult justice, which is why he is pushing a bill allowing Juvenile Court to hold kids until the age 25.
“Ninety percent of the delinquent kids who are put on the right track age out of their behavior in their late teens and early 20s. They just stop doing it,” said Michael.
He said it’s about helping youth find themselves.
Tevonne Jones found his passion in prison; a ministry of helping others who have made bad choices.
He said young people need help.
“Deal with the real issue. It’s one thing to lock a man up because he committed a crime. True he needs to be locked up, but locking him up is not gonna fix the problem,” said Jones.
First mistakes don’t have to define your future, and that’s something 17-year-old Brandon knows.
“Since they did send me somewhere when I needed help, I should become a better person and have a lot of great things going for me,” she said.
In an effort to reach youth early, a new gang program called GAP has been proposed.
It would develop mentorships with those 18 and under.
It’s designed to prevent them from joining a gang and offer help getting out if they are already a member.
There is also a parenting component.
