INDIANAPOLIS — More children are getting involved in violent and brutal crimes. A new study by the Indiana Criminal Justice institute shows kids charged as adults rose 76 percent last year in Indiana.
“We have to be fed up and that’s going to inspire action,” Kareem Hines said. Hines is the founder of New B.O.Y. Mentoring and Youth Development. His organization works to make sure kids are on the right path.
“If I can affect one kid, then I want to have that trickle-down effect on his friend,” Hines added.
The new numbers from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institutedetail that kids being charged as adults were up more than 180% in 2023 compared to 2021.
“Some of the progress that these kids are making you can’t quantify the numbers. They look good for a PowerPoint, but we have to get a little bit deeper when talking about kids in our communities and the trauma that they’ve experienced,” Hines told WRTV.
Sydney Neglia knows first-hand how teens involved in violent crime can impact someone.
Over the weekend, police say her Hyundai was stolen by a group of teens. Police say those teens led officers on a chase ending near 34th and Lafayette on Indy’s west side before being taken into custody.
“I think teens getting involved in crime is just sad, it’s not something I hold any resentment towards them specifically,” Neglia told WRTV.
Sydney hopes things do turn around, so what happened to her doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“We need to look at society as a whole and figure out what is it that we are not providing teens or what it is that we’re feeding teens that violent crime is a good way to occupy their time,” Neglia concluded.
