COLUMBUS, Ohio — Car theft, aggravated robbery and murder — they are crimes committed by a small percentage of Franklin County juveniles.
Lasheyl Stroud serves as the lead judge in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations & Juvenile Branch.
"I don't tolerate disrespect in my courtroom. Don't come into my courtroom saying, 'I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.' That's unacceptable," Stroud said.
Stroud was asked about the perception by those in the community and among law enforcement that the court is soft on crime.
"I absolutely disagree that we are soft on crime. Especially as someone who is a member of the community who lives, works and worships in the zip codes that are before this court. We have more juveniles in our intervention center than we did five years ago," Stroud said.
According to data from the Franklin County juvenile court, since 2020, judges have sent more children to the Department of Youth Services.
Below is a breakdown on how many juveniles were sent to DYS each of the last four years:
- 2020: 33 juveniles
- 2021: 59 juveniles
- 2022: 42 juveniles
- 2023: 65 juveniles
Nearly 55% more kids were sent to DYS from 2022 to 2023 and there are more kids in juvenile detention than ever before.
But when it comes to the most violent crimes, fewer kids under the age of 18 are ending up in adult court.
Also known as bind overs, court records show juveniles charged with adult crimes are on the decline.
Aggravated robbery, murder and felony assault rank among the top crimes where a teenager is charged as an adult.
"One night in the detention center reduces your chances to graduate high school by 50%," Stroud said.
Judges who placed youth on GPS monitoring in lieu of lockup have gone up every year since 2020 from 137 GPS orders to 413 in 2023.
Last year saw a 8% increase in GPS monitoring cases compared to 2022.
10TV Reporter Kevin Landers: Do you think it's effective?
Stroud: I think GPS monitoring is effective because it allows us at any given time to know exactly where an individual is.
Landers: That's not really true because no one is the GPS monitoring 24/7.
Stroud: I said we have the ability to do so.
Gun crimes in Franklin County for those under the age of 18 are on the decline. Court records show the numbers remained steady from 2020 to 2021 then shot up in 2022. But they dropped by 16% from 2022 to 2023.
Stroud said when she asks for those who appear before her about why they had a gun, the response is often the same.
"They will tell you I don't feel safe in my neighborhood," Stroud said.
Teens stealing cars remains a major problem in Franklin County. Documents obtained by 10TV show in 2021 the court saw 383 cases. Those cases increased by more than 600 in 2022 then fell last year to 544. That's a 13% decline.
"I do think that TikTok and other social media videos played a role in 2020 when we saw that spike. I'm glad to see car companies making changes but it is comforting that it's going down because I do think that was a trend," Stroud said.
While it's easy for one to think that juvenile crime is on the rise, statistics show that the so-called juvenile crime wave isn't a wave at all. Even so, the cost to incarcerate youth criminals is going up and that's a cost we all share.
Last year, DYS paid nearly $5 million in overtime because of a lack of staff. This year, that figure now exceeds $5 million.
Incentive pay for people to work weekends and retain employees jumped from $400,000 to more than $600,000 this year.