There were 11,000 guns stolen from North Carolina citizens in 2024. Juvenile crime has increased in part due to unsecured firearms. (Photo: iStock / Getty Images)
North Carolina legislators ready to close the book on 2025 and begin the holidays received a sobering reminder of how much work awaits when they return in the new year.
Billy Lassiter, deputy secretary with the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, told members of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety on Thursday that North Carolina has seen an increase of over 14% in juvenile delinquency complaints between 2022 and 2024.
That represents more than 40,000 complaints against 14,189 juveniles this past year.
Billy Lassiter, deputy secretary with the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, addresses lawmakers during a Dec. 11, 2025 committee hearing. (Photo: NCGA)Simple assault is the number one complaint brought against juveniles, often occurring in a school setting. But Lassiter said what’s new is the rise in vehicle break-ins and motor vehicle thefts.
“It’s not that they’re breaking into one car – they’re breaking into multiple cars at one time,” Lassiter told lawmakers. “And what is the number one thing that they’re trying to steal from your car? Firearms.”
Lassiter, who has worked in juvenile justice for 27 years, said gun owners are making it far too easy for juveniles to get their hands on a weapon.
“60% of those cars were not even locked. So, when we say breaking and entering, there wasn’t much breaking going on,” Lassiter shared. “Most of those guns were not secured in the vehicle. They were sitting right there on the front seat of the car for those young people to get access to.”
There were nearly 11,000 guns stolen from North Carolina citizens in 2024.
Juveniles are also more likely to be armed while committing a crime than in the past. Four years ago, just 4% of the juvenile crimes in North Carolina involved a firearm. Last year, it was almost 15%.
North Carolina is 10th in the nation in the annual rate of firearm thefts. (Source: NC Dept. of Public Safety)Lassiter said lawmakers could help by providing recurring funding for the NC S.A.F.E. campaign, which provides gun locks and messaging to remind firearm owners how to safely store their firearms in their house. Of all the school shootings across the country, 80% of the guns came from the child’s own home.
Lassiter said the department also needs more staff for the state’s juvenile detention centers.
A change in the law in 2020 requires that any child under the age of 18 facing adult charges be housed in a juvenile detention facility until they’ve been convicted of those adult charges.
With the slow-moving justice system, many of those young people are staying in juvenile detention centers now for almost 200 days.
“It’s not just that we’re getting more young people, it’s that those young people that we’re getting are staying much longer in the facilities. And that’s driving the population to go higher and higher,” Lassiter explained.
The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission is expected to release data Friday projecting the state won’t have enough beds at its youth development centers to serve the young people who need to be housed.
In 2023, the General Assembly granted Lassiter’s department approval to build another 48-bed facility. But because no state budget passed this year, no funding is available to continue that project.
Juvenile detention bedrooms at the C.A. Dillon facility. The Division of Juvenile Justice says more beds are needed. (File photo NC Newsline)“We desperately need those beds so that we can get kids off the floor in these facilities,” he stressed.
“You contract with local jails, right?” asked Rep. Carson Smith (R-Pender) hoping to ease the housing shortage.
Lassiter explained that under federal law, juveniles must have sight and sound separation from adult inmates to protect them from physical or sexual abuse, and few local jails are set up to meet that requirement.
In addition to a place to sleep, Lassiter told the oversight committee that many of North Carolina’s juveniles need wraparound services.
Thirty-eight percent of the juveniles who were involved in the system last year had a mental health diagnosis. And 50% of them had five or more mental health challenges.
“Last year, 36% of our kids that came into the system had parents that said they were unwilling or incapable of taking care of their own kids,” Lassiter said.
Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils (JCPCs) in each county work to develop strategies on delinquency prevention that involve the full family, not just the child. Programs like conflict resolution, counseling, family therapy and community service can help change the trajectory of a troubled youth’s life, Lassiter said..
“How do those recidivism rates compare with adult recidivism rates?” Sen. Norm Sanderson (R-Pamlico) asked.
“Overall, the juvenile justice recidivism rate is about 15% lower than the adult recidivism rate,” said Lassiter. “In general, we get better results.”
But these programs have not had an increase in their daily rate since 2020, he added. Without additional funding in the near future, service providers will be forced to reduce their services.
Lassiter said for every dollar invested in a community-based program, research has shown the state gets $70 in return.
“That’s what we’re doing by investing in these community-based programs – we’re investing in our young people so they don’t break into your house or my car next week,” he said. “We need the programming in these local communities.”
Source: NC Division of Juvenile JusticeHence then, the article about as more nc juveniles face charges lawmakers confront the need for more resources was published today ( ) and is available on NC news line ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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