crime in shelby county – Memphis Flyer

The Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission’s (MSCCC) latest report shows that the overall crime rate, as well as major violent and property crimes and juvenile crimes, saw an overall increase in 2023 compared to 2022.

The crime commission released its 2023 Annual Report. The statistics compare crime in Memphis and in Shelby County. The rates are released in conjunction with the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute.

“The sources of the crime rates issued by the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute and the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission are data submitted to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s (TBI) Tennessee Incident-Based Reporting System (TIBRS) by individual law enforcement agencies,” MSCCC said.

MSCCC mentions that the city has “a lot of positive momentum” in terms of tourism, Tom Lee Park, the construction of the Memphis Art Museum, and more. However, they said in order to propel this “momentum” forward, the area needs to “get a handle on our unacceptably high crime rate.

“We saw some encouraging signs during the latter part of 2023,” MSCCC said. “For the entire year, though, crime rates in almost all major categories moved in the wrong direction compared to 2022.”

The report classifies major violent crimes as murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults, and major property crimes as burglaries, auto thefts, and other felony theft offenses, or larcenies.

Overall crime in both jurisdictions increased from 2022 to 2023, with the city of Memphis reporting 19,962 reported incidents in 2023, compared to 18,554 in 2022. Shelby County reported 15,380 crimes in 2023, and 14,509 in 2022.

According to the crime commission, there was a 52.3 percent increase in murders in 2023 compared to 2022. These incidents were calculated “per 100,000 population.)

Domestic violence incidents were up by 3 percent, and “gun related violent incidents” in the city of Memphis increased by 11.6 percent .

Included in the report is the “Safe Community Action Plan Status Report,” which is one of the solutions towards “reducing violence.” In terms of gun violence, the commission is on track with “vigorous federal prosecution of gun crime as a priority, and “establishing a special Memphis Police Department Unit to investigate aggravated assault incidents involving guns.”

MSCCC reported that they are “on track” with these developments, however they are “slightly behind schedule” on “expanding violence interveners” tasked with preventing “retaliatory violence.” They also said they are behind on “developing and implementing an effort to reduce thefts of vehicles and guns.”

While the city saw an increase in multiple areas, the report concluded that “serious juvenile charges” were down 13.3 percent in 2023 (569) compared to 2022 (656). This follows a trend of decreased charges starting from 2011.

The report does not state what is considered “serious juvenile charges,” however it cited aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, and carjacking as “serious delinquent juvenile offenses.” The commission called these “especially disturbing.”

The statistics show that there was an overall increase in juvenile or charges compared to 2022. “Delinquent juvenile charges” were up by 15.9 percent.

Per the status report, the commision says it is on track with “expanding efforts” to engage with youth prior to committing any offense or “before they encounter law enforcement or the juvenile justice system.” The commission reports that it has developed a system regarding intensive supervision, rehabilitation. and treatment for “serious juvenile offenders.” MSCCC reported it is slightly behind on a plan that helps to “break the cycle of repeat offenders.”

Law enforcement should want a “more effective” solution when dealing with juvenile crimes, according to Dr. Lucas Trautman, a licensed psychiatrist.

Trautman wants to “scream from the rooftops,” about the success of therapeutic treatment and resources for teenagers who have committed crimes, which takes into consideration the trauma of the person.

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, Trautman has worked with teenagers who he said are currently driving the “extreme violent crime wave in Memphis.” Those who find their way to Trautman are usually considered to be a threat to themselves, others, or “psychotic where they can’t protect themselves in the community and keep themselves safe.”

“We’ll get someone who has a mental illness, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia and they’re homicidal, and they’re imminently going to kill some people,” said Trautman.

Data from the Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission show that while “serious juvenile crime” has decreased by 13 percent in the last year, the same data show that delinquent juvenile charges have increased almost 16 percent from 2022 (4,300) to 2023 (4,546).

Trautman said that the “knee-jerk” reactions to these crimes, and the people that commit them, are “terrifying.” However, he believes that people forget that at their core, they’re still teenagers.

“People carjacking with AK-47s are teenagers. They’re like 15, 16 years old,” Trautman said. “If you read about them in the paper, you’re terrified. But when you know them, and you give them treatment, and you give them a trauma-informed approach, and believe in them, they’re still teenagers. They do awesome.”

The Memphian’s approach is not only informed by success stories, but by his own experience. Trautman said that his middle school years were marked by misbehavior and bad decisions. However, through high school wrestling he found out how transformative consistent mentorship could be.

“Outside of medicine and outside of psychiatry, I’ve been a huge believer [in mentorship], and I’ve seen the impact that mentorship can have and consistency and believing in a teenager can have,” said Trautman. He continued this work through a gym he started five years ago in the Binghampton community, Stardust Jiu-Jitsu.

“They respond very positively, as I did in eighth-grade, to a coach, or in this case a psychiatrist, saying ‘you did this great. Let me give you a leadership opportunity,’” Trautman said. “You had this traumatic thing happen to you, and now you have this dysfunctional behavior. Let me give you some ideas about how we can do things differently that don’t make your life blow up at every turn.”

Trautman explained that this approach is marked by dignity and respect, which takes a two-pronged approach, involving him not only hearing these individuals out, and in turn imparting knowledge about trauma and functional behavior.

“It’s really fulfilling because I’m taking the most violent kids in the city, who have really, significant high-risk behaviors that are comparable to behaviors we see in teens in cities like Mexico City or Mogadishu,” said Trautman. “These are like good kids. They’re teenagers that are very receptive to all the things that we’re receptive to. They’re one wrestling coach, one theater program, one cheer squad, one football team away from making much more functional decisions.”