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Dallas Juvenile Detention: 32% held on gun charges
A staggering 32% of youth in Dallas County detention are there for gun crimes, prompting federal authorities to deploy advanced DNA tracing to combat the rise in juvenile gun violence.
DALLAS - The violence of murder, the sadness of suicide, the tragedy of accidents, the lives lost by gun violence.
While gun crimes are down, somewhat, for adults, gun-related crimes lead the way in taking the lives of both children and teens.
Rising gun violence among children and teens
13 May 2022, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rottweil: A Walther PDP Full Size 9mm handgun and 9mm Luger cartridges lie on a table of a sports shooter. Photo: Silas Stein/ (Photo by Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Local perspective:
Dallas County Commissioner's Court opens with a resolution as June is national gun violence awareness month.
"Gun violence continues to take a heavy toll in the United States," said Dallas County Commissioner, Dr. Theresa Daniel..
Inside the Dallas County Juvenile Detention crisis
Lynn Hadnot is the Executive Director of Dallas County Juvenile, Rachel Gandy is the Deputy Director of Administrative Services there.
"The access that our youth, now, have to possess and carry firearms has changed dramatically," said Hadnot.
"I think we have to have a conversation about what you have access to, when they're out in the community. Both in terms of what gun access looks like, but what other programming is available?" said Gandy. "Violent crime for ATF is our top priority. We're the only federal agency that is tasked with reducing violent crime that is our primary mission."
New Dallas County Juvenile director hoping to restore public trust
The director of the very troubled and still under criminal investigation Dallas County Juvenile Department is candidly addressing the issue – the good, the bad, and the necessary to turn juvenile services around.
Using DNA Tracing to Track Illegal Firearms
What they're saying:
FOX 4 spoke with the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Dallas for a conference last week, with all department of justice heads.
Robert Cedaka says the ATF's new crime gun intelligence laboratory in Wichita, Kansas helps answer the question of where guns used in crimes come from.
"When we use tracing, we use DNA. We're able to find out okay how this gun got from the legal market into this prohibited person's hands, and then who pulled the trigger? We're able to get DNA off of a slide, off of a trigger, off of the front and rear site, and we can tell you exactly how much of the DNA was everywhere and if four other people touched that firearm, we can break down who else was with you when you committed that crime," said Cedaka.
Push for long-term youth crime prevention
Dig deeper:
32% of the juveniles in detention in Dallas County are there because of gun crimes.
"And that number increases significantly when you look at our post-adjudicated youth and these are youth that have gone before court and been deemed to require a higher level of structure and supervision," said Hadnot. "That number increases to nearly 50% that are directly related to gun violence within the community."
Gandy gave long-term solutions to how to tackle the overall gun violence among children and teens.
"Part of what we have to do in the juvenile system is really be thinking long term. We now have this youth in our custody, in our system. What do they need to get out, and stay out, of our care? And that's going to involve more than punishment. So we have to think about the balance of structure and accountability in the programming they need, so they do not come back," said the deputy director.
What's next:
The solutions can't come just from juveniles alone.
Prevention efforts have to be community wide to stem the tide of gun violence.
The Source: Information in this article was provided from interviews conducted by FOX 4's Shaun Rabb.