NC sheriffs express frustration when they refer dangerous teens to detention centers and are denied

Several sheriffs in central North Carolina say they’re frustrated after trying and failing to have teenage offenders placed in juvenile detention centers.

The pool of potential juvenile justice offenders grew in late 2019, when the state raised the minimum age at which someone can be charged as a juveniles from 16 to 18. Before Dec. 2019, 16 and 17-year-olds who committed crimes in the state were automatically charged in the adult criminal justice system.

After hearing from several sheriffs, WRAL Investigates reached out to the Department of Juvenile Justice with questions about several cases where the DJJ denied requests from law enforcement that a teen be placed in custody. The most recent annual report showed on average, state juvenile justice detention facilities weren’t full.

Offenders who are juveniles can’t be held in adult jail. Instead, they’re supposed to go to detention centers if approved by the DJJ. However, the DJJ doesn’t always approve a law enforcement agency’s request, meaning they go back to their parents.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Juvenile Justice hasn’t responded to WRAL Investigates’ requests.

15-year-old boy accused of choking father in Sampson County

One father, who WRAL Investigates is choosing not to name, said his 15-year-old son brutally attacked his brother in their Sampson County home.

“My son, he’s had a very bad anger issue,” the father said. “He’s always jumping on his brother. Then, I have to pull him off his brother.”

The teen later tried to choke the father from behind, according to the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office.

"The officers were trying to get him off his father's back,” said Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton. “However, he would not release, so we had to Tase him."

Deputies eventually got the 15-year-old boy under control. Then, they reached out to the Department of Juvenile Justice to place the teenager in secured custody.

"Due to the nature of the situation, we felt like it reached the level of him being placed in custody, but that was refused,” Thornton said.

Instead, the teenager was taken to the hospital for a mental evaluation.

Other central NC sheriff’s offices have requests denied to place teens in juvenile detention centers

Thornton reached out to sheriffs across the state to see if they had similar issues.

The Alamance County Sheriff said a 14-year-old boy threatened to shoot up a school. Deputies confiscated a weapon, but their petition to place him custody was denied.

The Perquimans County Sheriff’s office mentioned multiple denials over the past couple of years.

The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office said it referred more than 100 cases to juvenile services, but only a few were accepted.

“Unless you have a murder, no secure custody,” said Lincoln County Sheriff Bill Beam.

WRAL Investigates heard similar frustrations when speaking with the sheriffs in Cumberland and Harnett counties. Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coats said the Department of Juvenile Justice denied his request for secure custody of a 17-year-old girl accused of burning the family's apartment and smashing the windshield of the family's car.

"And then, she turned around and she threatened her mother,” Coats said. “[She] threatened to kill her.

“What we wanted to do is get a secured custody order on her, and [the Department of] Juvenile Justice said it did not meet the criteria.”

Coats said if the girl was 18 years old, he believes she would “absolutely” be in jail.

Since last week, WRAL Investigates asked the Department of Juvenile Justice to explain what it took to get a secure custody request from law enforcement approved. WRAL Investigates was promised an interview that never happened.

What happens next to the teen in Sampson County?

The 15-year-old boy in Sampson County is still in the hospital waiting on a disposition in his case.

"No one at any age who has committed a crime should feel the freedom to say, ‘You can't do nothing with me,’” Thornton said.

The sheriffs WRAL Investigates spoke with say they're not trying to throw the Department of Juvenile Justice under the bus.

Sheriffs told WRAL Investigates now that COVID is winding down, students will be back in school in the fall and the courts are opened. They said the number of juveniles committing violent crimes is on the rise. They also said offenders are going unchecked.