More tough on crime bills are moving through Kentucky General Assembly this session.

One bill passed in the Senate and heading to the House would crack down on teens with guns.

Kentucky Editions June Leffler has more in tonight's legislative update.

A Republican from Elizabeth Town says increasing teen violence is alarming.

And Kentucky has seen a 31.8% increase in serious juvenile violent crime since 2015.

In Louisville, youth homicides tripled from 2018 to 2021, and they're still on the rise.

State Senator Matthew Deneen says these offenders aren't being held accountable, leaving victims with no sense of justice.

We are basically allowing juveniles to go into jail and walk right back out before our policemen even have time to finish the paperwork.

The senator's solution is Senate Bill 20, which would try teens 15 and older as adults for most gun crimes, that would likely lead to longer, harsher penalties.

County attorneys say the bill leaves just enough judicial discretion to send the case back to juvenile court as needed.

The net effect of this bill on juvenile gun crime is to practically create a presumption that juveniles with guns would be held accountable as adults.

But it does protect the ability to have the particular circumstances of that juvenile situation considered so that if it's appropriate, it could be sent back to to juvenile court.

Others say the law doesn't offer such input.

It sounds like the court or the prosecutors or the police had to make a mistake.

They had to be wrong.

There was no gun in order for a child to be sent back to district court or we've overcharged that child.

So, again, a mistake on behalf of the prosecutor.

This bill reverses a law the General Assembly signed off on three years ago.

In 2021, the Assembly said children should not by default, be sent to adult court.

Democrats say Senate Bill 20 will do little to support victims or prevent gun violence.

We're talking about victims and what is happening.

123 JCP kids have been impacted by gun violence.

But we as this body, as a judiciary or we as the the all of the General Assembly, we're not putting money into resources to make sure what are we doing for our kids who have been impacted.

Everybody wants to live in a safe neighborhood.

Everybody wants their children to be safe.

So it's not about that.

And everybody wants police officers to be safe so they can keep the peace.

It is not about that at all.

What we want it to be about is something that's effective, that will work.

So my question is, does this bill address in any way the availability of guns to people that that is so widespread.

It does not address the availability of guns.

But I can tell you this, if we continue to send these violent offenders back into our neighborhoods and don't hold them accountable, we are encouraging our citizenry to defend themselves.

We are we are encouraging them to go out and to buy guns themselves.

Putting more guns in our neighborhoods.

A Republican says this bill can't stop teen violence, but it will help.

This is only a piece of the puzzle.

So I just I'm a yesterday and I just wanted to point out that we are very aware of the need for wraparound services.

With Republican support, the House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill and now heads to the House for Kentucky edition.

I'm Jim Leffler.

Thank you, June.

Terry Brooks of the Kentucky Youth Advocates had this reaction.

Quote, Senate bill 20 turns away the General Assembly's legacy of being smart about juvenile justice and reality.

It does not add a single new element to the existing toolkit for local communities in addressing youth violent crime, end quote.