Teenagers 15 years and older would be tried as adults for crimes involving firearms under a measure that passed a Senate committee on Thursday.
Currently, Kentucky prosecutors have to petition a judge to elevate a minor’s case to adult court. Senate Bill 20 would eliminate that piece of judicial discretion, and require teenagers 15 and up to be tried in adult court for crimes involving firearms.
Republican Sen. Matthew Deneen, from Elizabethtown, said his bill is designed to address a crisis, an increase in juvenile offenders committing more serious offenses, often with guns.
“We used to see adults committing these violent crimes, [but] it is reversed now,” Deneen said. “Now we are seeing youthful offenders committing these adult crimes… We want to make sure that our laws address the current issue. Not what we hope it to be, not what it was, but to deal with the current reality.”
The Senate committee on veterans and military affairs passed Senate Bill 20 Thursday. It now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.