Tennessee’s Push to Punish Kids as Adults

Latino USA

Futuro Media and PRX

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional, a flurry of re-sentencings followed across the country. But for juvenile lifers in Tennessee, it was like nothing happened. What followed were several legal battles, culminating in a Tennessee Supreme Court decision that ultimately ruled the state’s sentencing unconstitutional. The Republican-led state legislature responded by proposing a torrent of “tough on crime” bills aimed at juveniles. We head to Tennessee, where we explore a recent push to funnel more children into the adult prison system.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	When I founded Futuro, I imagined a home for journalism with radical transparency.
0:06.5	I wanted a newsroom where I wasn't the only Latina behind the mic.
0:12.1	Now Futuro is becoming a home for more voices than ever.
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0:32.0	Plus. Visit our website, Futuromediagroup.org slash join plus.
0:38.6	And not you buy yes.
0:54.0	Sentoya Brown. She's been in prison for more than a decade now, but her case is catching fire on social media.
1:02.1	Today Brown's lawyers are heading all the way to Cincinnati. They're going to go before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to argue that Sintoya Brown's sentence
1:12.1	was unconstitutional.
1:13.5	Oh, you billed.
1:14.6	Her dream of freedom now denied, as the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Brown
1:20.2	will become eligible for parole after her 69th birthday.
1:24.3	Chances are, if you paid attention to the news at any point between 2017 and 2019,
1:30.5	you've heard Suntoya Brown's name. Then in her 30s, the Tennessee native had been serving
1:36.0	a life sentence for a murder committed as a teen. At the time of her trial in 2006, the state of
1:42.5	Tennessee had a mandatory sentence for this type of crime,
1:45.9	life in prison, no matter the circumstances.
1:49.6	We have a situation where a 16-year-old child who operates at about a 10-year-old level,
1:56.8	who has organic brain damage, and that affected her all the way to the present.
2:02.6	When you look at all this, was it a fundamentally fair trial?
2:07.6	Sintoya was born to an alcohol and crack-addicted teen mom, and was later diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome.
	...

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