NASHVILLE, Tenn (WTVF) — Just one young person killed is one too many, but so far in 2021, six juveniles have been murdered in Davidson County.
One group is trying to put an end to that cycle of violence.
Rodger Dinwiddie, CEO of Stars Nashville, says the organization strives to give young people the tools to make smart choices.
"We provide services here in the building through an intensive outpatient treatment program, partnering with the juvenile court, and we have about 120, close to 120 staff soon to be that work all around the Middle Tennessee area in schools providing behavioral and mental health supports for young people," Dinwiddie said.
There have been 30 shootings in Davidson County involving juveniles so far this year.
Six young people have died in shootings this year to date and there were eight juvenile murders in all of 2020, one was a child abuse case.
"It really concerns us here in the organization because there's seven, six different nonprofits in our building here, and each one of us all work together to try to do something about this issue," said Dinwiddie.
Data from the Davidson County Juvenile Court shows there are some areas of juvenile crime going down while others are increasing.
There were 176 juvenile handgun possession charges from January 2020 to September 2020 — the same time this year it dropped to 95 charges.
But aggravated robbery charges jumped to 55 this year from 34 last year.
Youth services say we all need to work together to end these tragic trends.
Staff with Stars Nashville are in four Metro Nashville Public Schools to help students and their families.
