MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Juvenile crime in Shelby County seems to be drastically decreasing the past few months, and the Juvenile Court judge has a theory that COVID-19 may play a role.
Right now, there are 37 children in the county’s detention center, a number that makes Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael proud.
“That is the lowest we have ever had since I’ve been involved in this court,” said Michael, who started with the court as a volunteer in 1990.
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To stem the spread of COVID-19. the state supreme court stopped all in-person proceedings back in March.
Judge Michael says they then focused their attention on the children in custody, continuing those cases via Zoom, and getting kids out of the system more quickly.
The number of children being brought into the detention center is also decreasing. Compare March, April and May numbers in the chart below to the same months in 2018 and 2019.
“We don’t have any data to prove my guesses. I’m pretty sure what’s happening is that mom and dad are home and kids are at home,” Michael said.
He predicts this trend will continue.
“As long as this virus lasts, it probably will. That’s a good thing,” he said.
Michael hopes research can pin down the cause behind the decrease, whatever it is, and is looking for doctoral students who can find that data.
“If we could get good data on this and what’s keeping these kids out of trouble. I need to know that,” he said.
Judge Michael said the children detained right now have no less than a B felony.
He said they typically they average around 45 detainees around this time of year. His goal is to get that number in the mid 20s.
