Tennessee lawmakers have sent a bill to Gov. Bill Lee’s (R-TN) desk introducing “blended sentencing,” which is when the worst juvenile offenders can be handed adult punishments after they age out of the juvenile system.

The juvenile justice system under current law loses jurisdiction over juvenile offenders once they turn 19. 

“If they’re 17 or 18 years old, and they commit a violent crime, and they’re not prosecuted as an adult, by the time they turn age 19, their record is wiped clean,” Tennessee GOP House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who introduced the bill, told Fox Digital. “Nobody can see it anymore. They get a free pass.” 

However, the new blended sentencing bill will give serious offenders an additional three to five years in adult prison if they meet certain criteria. Juvenile suspects found guilty for the equivalent of an adult class A, B, or C felony can face an additional adult punishment after their 18th birthday, ranging from probation to prison time, but no blended sentence may extend beyond the offender’s 25th birthday.

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“We worked with the juvenile judges as much as we could to come up with something that was reasonable, something that would hold them accountable and put in place a blended sentencing model where if you were a juvenile, and you truly wanted to get back to society in a good place, then we put in some conditions that you had to follow,” Sexton said.

The measure passed both the House and Senate at the end of April. Lawmakers began working on the bill after the state saw a spike in juvenile carjackings during the pandemic. However, data show that over the past decade, juvenile arrests have decreased by 53%.