Senate Judiciary A Committee Chairman Brice Wiggins will push lawmakers next year to support legislation to place a full-time Youth Court judge in every county across the state to make sure children receive a consistent level of treatment in Mississippi’s justice system. Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, told reporters on Friday that he doesn’t know how the Youth Court will specifically be reformed, but it would ultimately place more full-time judges in the state. “I think by adding those judges, it would bring a sense of uniformity because I think it would bring the staffing and the structures to go along with it,” Wiggins said.  Mississippi has a hodgepodge Youth Court system that differs from county to county. Youth Court deals with most instances where children commit crimes and where adults are accused of abusing and neglecting minors.  In counties that have a County Court, a full-time County Court judge presides over Youth Court matters. But despite its name, not every Mississippi county has a County Court.  For a county to have a County Court, it must have a population larger than 50,000 people or, if it’s smaller than that number, it must convince the Legislature to pass a law to establish a County Court in the area.  Only 24 of the state’s 82 counties have a county court.  In the remaining counties, Youth Court is the responsibility of Chancery Courts. But only two counties, Sunflower and Humphreys counties, have a chancellor directly dealing with youth matters. In the remaining 56 counties, the Chancery Court appoints a part-time Youth Court referee to handle those cases.  Wiggins’ decision to introduce Youth Court reform legislation during the 2025 legislative session is partly based on a report published  by a 19-person Youth Court Commission that concluded Mississippi needs a system where every county has a full-time Youth Court judge in every county.  Staci Bevill, a County Court judge in Lee County, was a member of the commission and told lawmakers that the commission reached that decision because part-time referees don’t always have the resources and time to handle the large amount of work Youth Court demands.  “These referees and these county courts are trying the best they can,” Bevill said. “This commission is in no way trying to say that a referee court is not doing their work. These people are trying to do the work, but they don’t have the resources to do the work.”  Unlike the adult criminal system, a Youth Court judge has to enter some type of order for every matter that’s referred to them. In 2023 alone, the commission reported that Youth Court judges dealt with over 18,000 juvenile criminal cases and over 46,000 abuse and neglect cases.  The commission did not recommend the Legislature adopt a specific court structure, but it proposed three different court structures for lawmakers to consider: a statewide County Court system, a uniform Chancery Court system or a hybrid structure where the state uses both County court and Chancery court.  Under the statewide county court system, the Legislature would keep the current 24 County Courts and create County Court districts composed of two to three counties for the other areas of the state.  For the uniform Chancery Court plan, it would remove youth jurisdiction from County Court and create a permanent Youth Court division in each of the state’s Chancery Court districts with a full-time Youth Court judge in each of these districts. Gov. Tate Reeves in his Executive Budget Recommendation has endorsed this proposal.  Under the hybrid model, it would morph Reeves’ plan with the County Court proposal. It would leave the current County Court system intact in counties that have a County Court system. In counties with a referee program, it would replace part-time referees with Chancery Court judges.  If lawmakers substantially reform the state’s Youth Court system to create a more uniform structure, it could be a way for the state to finally resolve the long-running Oliva Y lawsuit that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars.  The Olivia Y lawsuit, filed in 2004 during Gov. Haley Barbour’s administration, alleged the state’s foster care system was not effectively protecting children who had been placed in Child Protection Services custody. The namesake of the suit was 3-years-old at the time and showed various signs of abuse and neglect after being in the care of a foster family.  The state settled with the plaintiffs, and it agreed to meet several performance metrics to improve the foster care system. Twenty years later, the state has still not resolved the litigation. Wiggins believes a uniform system could finally help end the litigation and save the state money in the long-term by investing in children early in Youth Court instead of trying to remedy lingering unresolved problems, especially with criminal matters, later in life.  “It’s obvious that when you start at the front end, you save money and resources and get better outcomes on the back end,” Wiggins said.  The state Legislature will convene for its 2025 regular session on January 7. The post Mississippi Legislature will consider Youth Court reform appeared first on Mississippi Today.