Felony case referrals to juvenile court in Bexar County have nearly doubled so far this year compared to the first two months of 2022, a Bexar County judge said Tuesday.
That increase is roughly in line with a citywide increase in crime and coincides with a resurgence of student truancy.
Officials expected some bounce back in truancy and juvenile crime, given the steep decline during the coronavirus pandemic, but now they’re worried the increases could rise beyond pre-pandemic levels.
“During the pandemic, the focus [of] the school districts was not on truancy,” Judge Carla Obledo, who presides over the Municipal Court, told City Council’s Public Safety Committee. “This year’s [truancy] figures are on track to surpass 2019.”
The Municipal Court oversees civil truancy cases, while Bexar County Juvenile District Courts oversee criminal cases and juvenile probation. Tuesday’s discussion included presentations.
There were 42% more young people referred to juvenile court in January and February compared to the same time period last year, said Judge William “Cruz” Shaw III, who presides over the 436th Juvenile District Court. Because some are charged with multiple crimes, the total case count increased by 51%, he said.
Juvenile court — which includes specialty courts that provide services for young people struggling with addiction, mental health issues and gang and domestic violence — typically handles cases involving kids ages 10-16.
In 2019, there were just over 3,200 juvenile referrals to court, according to a trend report generated by Bexar County’s Juvenile Probation department. That dipped to just below 2,000 in the two years during the pandemic. The report estimates 2023 will slightly exceed pre-pandemic numbers, with felonies expected to outnumber misdemeanors for the first time.
In the first two months of 2022, 200 felony referrals were made to juvenile district courts. This year, the courts have seen 384, a 92% increase.
The trend report predicts that 2023 will see a total of 2,485 felonies, a 62% increase from last year, and 1,953 misdemeanors, a 3% decrease.
Misdemeanor court referrals have been on a largely downward trajectory since 2007. Felony cases have been trending up from a low of under 1,000 since 2020.
“Overall, we’re seeing a success because our referral numbers are down,” Shaw said. “But on the downside, we’re seeing more violent offenses.”
“We have seen an increase in auto theft,” Shaw told the San Antonio Report after the meeting. “And we’re slowly starting to see our gun [charges] increase — and not just violent offenses, just carrying a gun in school, or carrying a gun in a stolen car.”
One of the biggest opportunities the community has to reduce these cases is reducing access to guns, Judge Jacqueline “Jackie” Herr Valdés, who presides over the 386th Juvenile District Court, told the committee.
Easy access to guns
We need “people in our community to agree not to leave guns in their vehicles” or allow children to handle guns, Valdés said. “We all need to have a community effort, where we make it a really big deal that children should not have guns.”
Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6) opened the meeting Tuesday with a moment of silence for Rebecca Rodriguez, 12, who was shot and killed Saturday at a house party. A 15-year-old was also shot but survived. The circumstances around the shootings are still being investigated, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said, but “there were reports [that] they were playing with a gun.”
“Half the kids at that party were armed,” McManus said. “This is going on all over the place. And not just this city — this is going [on] all over the country.”
Beyond making access to guns more difficult, early intervention is key when it comes to a child who is headed on a path toward crime, Shaw told the San Antonio Report.
“What’s cool about the juvenile system is it’s somewhat punitive but it’s more rehabilitative,” he said. “If a kid has problems with drugs, family or whatever it is, we can put them on probation and then hopefully get the resources that they need so they don’t come back. That’s the goal. … The longer we wait to see the issues, the more opportunity [there is] for that child to get in trouble.”
He lamented that there aren’t more resources for struggling young people outside the justice system.
“We get phone calls [from parents asking]: ‘can I send my kid to some of the specialty courts?'” he said. “But in order to get the resources on probation, you have to be arrested.”
Truancy is one case that doesn’t involve criminal charges for children but can offer access to services.
Early truancy intervention
In 2015, the Texas Legislature passed a law that decriminalized truancy — defined as 10 unexcused absences over six months during a school year — and instead required truant conduct to be prosecuted as a civil case, so that the student doesn’t have a criminal record.
But the Municipal Court’s portion of a state grant it receives from the governor’s office to handle truancy cases and provide intervention services has been decreasing since 2018, so San Antonio’s court is adjusting to that reality.
“The court is seeking to remain efficient while empowering students and or guardians,” Obledo said, “but at the same time, we are looking at accomplishing this with less personnel and less dollars.”
When a truant student is identified, they are assigned a juvenile case manager — either through the court or the school district — and works with the student and their family to address the root cause of the student’s absenteeism, Obledo said, and then identify services that could help.
If those services don’t result in the student attending school more regularly, the next step is mediation; after that, the school district can initiate a criminal filing against the parent or guardian.
Those early interventions don’t always work.
“Some parents, unfortunately, aren’t paying attention until they actually get a letter from the court that says: You need to come to court,” Obledo said. “Then they start paying attention.”
