The Tennessee State Senate on Monday passed two bills sponsored by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) that focused on his continued efforts to fight crime in Memphis.
SB 2659, called the Juvenile Organized Retail Theft Act (JORTA), according to the General Assembly’s website, is a bill that “allows a juvenile court to transfer a child 15 years of age or older to be tried as an adult in criminal court for the offense of organized retail crime, theft of a firearm, or an attempt to commit such offense.”
Taylor’s other anti-crime bill, the Parental Accountability Act or SB 2571, “enacts the ‘Parental Accountability Act,’ requiring the juvenile court to assess a fine of $1,000 against a child who is found to be delinquent for a second or subsequent delinquent act, to be paid by the child’s parent, legal custodian, or guardian who had custody of the child at the time of the offense [and] permits the court to require the parent, legal custodian, or guardian to perform community service work in lieu of the mandatory fine if indigent.”
“We have too many juveniles out on our streets routinely committing crimes when they should be in school or at home. This bill will hold parents accountable for the criminal acts of their children and incentivize parents to monitor their children and contact law enforcement if their child is missing or up to no good,” said Taylor (pictured above) about the Parental Accountability Act.
Regarding JORTA, Taylor noted that car break-ins are an all-to-frequent occurrence.
“This bill targets two major crimes we are experiencing in Memphis,” he said. “Smash and grabs are much too frequent and hurt our businesses. The number of car break-ins is unacceptable and fueled by criminals looking to steal guns.”
Gun thefts are a major issue in Tennessee’s urban centers. For years, Nashville has implored residents to lock their vehicles, especially if they store weapons inside.
Taylor recently joined Fox News to sound the alarm about crime in Memphis.
“It’s really bad here, Todd,” he told Fox News’ Todd Piro in December 2023. “The crime is really out of control here in Memphis. Matter of fact, just last week I sent a letter to the governor asking him to send in additional state troopers to Shelby County. Just in a weekend, Todd, we had 21 shootings, five murders, four smash-and-grabs, we had a FedEx truck stopped in traffic by a group of people that then opened up the back of the truck and looted the back of the FedEx truck.”
Since then, he has sponsored numerous other anti-crime bills.
For his efforts, he has been doxxed by left-wingers.
– – –
Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “Senator Brent Taylor” by Senator Brent Taylor.
