With the concerted effort of state policymakers, we can continue to make Tennessee a safer place. Let’s act with urgency and determination.
Bill Gibbons| Guest Columnist
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Tennessee’s Constitution provides that our state government is “. . . instituted for the peace, safety and happiness of the people.”
According to the FBI’s latest crime figures, Tennessee has the fourth highest violent crime rate among the 50 states and the 13th highest property crime rate. Public safety must remain a top priority for our state constitution’s mandate to be fulfilled.
While our crime rate is unacceptably high, I’m encouraged that the Tennessee General Assembly has made significant public policy changes that will hopefully pay off soon.
To foster greater accountability and trust in our justice system, the legislature enacted truth in sentencing legislation in 2022 to ensure that certain violent offenders serve their full sentences without parole.
As part of our work to advance evidence-based public safety best practices, the Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission looked closely at the effectiveness of this approach in other states.
Compare progress in Virginia -- our neighboring state can be a model
Our adjacent state of Virginia enacted a similar system in 1994 and is doing a good job under truth-in-sentencing of using its prison beds for those offenders with reason for the public to fear, holding those offenders accountable through “real” prison sentences and using its system as a deterrent to violent crime.
In 1994, 69% of prison beds in Virginia held violent felons. By 2013, 81% of prison beds were occupied by violent felons. Virginia now has one of the lowest violent crime rates among the fifty states.
That evidence, along with our unacceptably high violent crime rate, helped inform the decision to make truth in sentencing a key recommendation in the Crime Commission’s current Safe Community Action Plan (published in February 2022), developed with stakeholder and community input from more than 800 people over the course of eleven public meetings.
The Crime Commission also does regular public opinion polling, and its January 2024 poll underscored that many are frustrated with juvenile crime; 63% of Shelby County voters felt the juvenile justice system was too lenient on juvenile offenders.
With that in mind, the Crime Commission worked with the General Assembly to help advance several important juvenile justice reforms this year.
Perhaps the most important step was to change our law that previously ended supervision and rehabilitation – whether in the community or a secure facility – no later than a violent juvenile offender’s 19th birthday. This was an arbitrary cutoff, and one that most serious juvenile offenders were aware of – sending entirely the wrong message. Whether you are for rehabilitation, accountability, or both – and I’m for both – a couple of years is likely not enough time to make an impact for a violent teen offender. Eliminating this arbitrary cutoff could be a real game changer.
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In a step of reducing access to guns, the legislature also ensured that juveniles convicted of certain violent offenses are prohibited from purchasing and possessing firearms until they reach their 25th birthdays.
The legislature took the important step this year of clarifying that public safety (House Bill 1642/Senate Bill 2562) should be the overriding factor in bail decisions.
The U.S. Constitution and the Tennessee Constitution provide that “excessive bail” shall not be required. Additionally, state law lists nine factors for courts to consider, with the dual goals of ensuring the defendant’s appearance in court and protecting the safety of the public.
Legislation passed this year requires judicial officers to give top consideration to public safety in setting bail amounts and conditions for pretrial release of defendants.
There’s more work to do on bail reform, work I expect to continue in the next legislative session. House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s proposal to deny pretrial bail for certain violent offenses can be a critical step in addressing violent crime.
Currently, bail can be denied only in capital cases. To be enacted as a constitutional amendment, it must next gain the support of two-thirds of both the House and Senate before going to voters in 2026.
Additionally, under current state law, in the adult system, judicial officers do not have access to a defendant’s juvenile record when deciding bail amounts and conditions. There is growing sentiment to change that, including among judges and judicial commissioners who are responsible for making bail decisions.
With the concerted effort of state policymakers, we can continue to make Tennessee a safer place. Let’s act with urgency and determination.
Bill Gibbons serves as president of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission and executive director of the Public Safety Institute at the University of Memphis. He is the former district attorney for Shelby County and commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
