State District Judge Alex Kim, a Republican who has led the county’s juvenile court since 2019, pinned the increase on a change aimed at shortening the time kids sit in the county’s juvenile jail awaiting their case’s outcome. He and other county leaders also said there have been more crimes.

But some juvenile justice advocates and former county officials fear that Kim’s tough-on-crime approach is helping to drive those numbers — a concern that has persisted for years. At the same time, Tarrant’s Black youth continue to be disproportionately represented in the number of kids sent to state custody.

TJJD data also show that kids who violated probation drove Tarrant’s spike, reigniting concerns about the county’s decision last year to fire a well-established group that supported youth on probation.

In Texas, only kids convicted of a felony or a probation violation for a felony could be sent to youth prisons, which are reserved for the most serious crimes. Critics and experts say Tarrant’s reliance on such placement, officially called a commitment, can harm youth. TJJD facilities have a history of youth being abused, and research shows that those kept closer to home are “far less likely” to commit new crimes.

“It’s pretty predictable that it’s going to have deleterious outcomes on a lot of the kids in our community,” said Brie Diamond, chair of Texas Christian University’s criminal justice department. “If we get them entrenched in the system … it becomes more likely that we’re creating a lifelong offender.”

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