NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a troubling statistic about kids and crime: last year the number of 13-year-olds in Nashville charged with violent crimes nearly doubled.
Nashville's Juvenile Court judge Sheila Calloway told that to a group of Metro Council members who are looking to stop the problem.
But Judge Calloway says the problem doesn't start with kids -- but with adults: Calloway says Nashville's youth violence problem could be nearly wiped out if each adult in Nashville mentored just one child in Nashville's schools.
"We see a problem and people don't know how they can affect change with that problem," Calloway said. "Just go to a school and read a book to a child, people aren't thinking about that."
Calloway also says Nashville's community centers need a wider variety of programming between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. for kids, staffed with full-service resources like counselors.
Juvenile Crime Task Force Lt. Blaine Whited also shared numbers of repeat offenders. He said of the 222 juveniles initially arrested during the task force's first year, 101 were rearrested. The task force seized 224 guns during its first year.
