LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Representative Jared Bauman (R-Dist. 28) will introduce a bill in the upcoming 2026 legislative session in January focused on teen crime.
The bill aims to bring reform to Kentucky’s juvenile justice system through at least doubling probation time and detention center stays depending on the crime, and also holding parents accountable by requiring them to pay for their child’s stay, instead of the taxpayer.
“I think we’ve got some significant gaps in our policy currently on the books, and we continue to see it plague us here in Louisville and across the state,” Bauman said. “The environment of leniency that this created back in 2014 has cascaded into what we’re seeing in our streets today, where we have young children that are shooting each other in the middle of the day, in the middle of our streets in Louisville, and we have got to put the train back.”…