After Hours: Florida Sheriff Cracks Down on Juvenile Crime (From the Archive)

Summary

Full Measure After Hours: Florida Sheriff Cracks Down on Juvenile Crime

Episode Release Date: June 5, 2025

Introduction

In this compelling episode of Full Measure After Hours, host Cheryl Akisson delves into the alarming rise of juvenile crime in the United States, with a particular focus on a harrowing case from Marion County, Florida. The episode features an in-depth interview with Sheriff Billy Woods, offering insights into the factors contributing to the surge in juvenile offenses and exploring potential solutions to this pressing societal issue.

Marion County's Triple Homicide Case

Cheryl Akisson sets the stage by recounting a gruesome incident that has shaken Marion County, Florida. Last year, six juveniles were involved in a violent plot that culminated in the execution-style murders of three of their peers. The motive reportedly stemmed from an attempted robbery aimed at funding marijuana purchases. Disturbingly, one of the perpetrators was as young as 12 years old. The victims were discovered over the span of a day and a half, with one young girl succumbing to her injuries after initially surviving the attack.

Interview with Sheriff Billy Woods

Sheriff Woods, a seasoned law enforcement officer with 34 years of experience, provides a critical analysis of the current juvenile crime trends.

Increased Juvenile Crime Rates

Sheriff Woods observes a steady increase in juvenile crimes over the years. He attributes this rise to a lack of accountability within the family unit and the educational system. "Sadely, juveniles are beginning to well know that there's no accountability to what they do to their actions," he explains (04:04). This sentiment is echoed by rising statistics: FBI data from 2020 showed a 30% increase in murders committed by juveniles and a staggering 65% rise in murders involving multiple juveniles. Local reports, such as a 329% increase in juvenile violent crime in Montgomery County, Maryland in 2023, further underscore the national scope of the issue.

Degradation of the Family Unit

Sheriff Woods emphasizes the deterioration of family structures as a fundamental cause of juvenile delinquency. He states, "the accountability and what else that I have seen and especially in the family unit is where we victimize the actual wrongdoer" (04:04). He criticizes parents who deflect responsibility for their children's actions, leading to a lack of proper discipline and guidance.

Failures in the Educational System

The sheriff also criticizes the modern educational approach to discipline, arguing that suspensions and expulsions are ineffective punishments for children. "What you do by preventing it is clean up the family in which that's probably the most difficult thing for us to do as a society," he asserts (07:07). He reminisces about stricter disciplinary measures from his own schooling days, suggesting that fear of parental punishment instilled a sense of accountability absent in today's youth.

Accountability and Legal Consequences

Contrary to the trend of leniency, Sheriff Woods advocates for holding juvenile offenders to the full extent of the law. He recounts the triple homicide case, highlighting the lack of remorse shown by the 12-year-old perpetrator: "I knew when you go to get after them, to discipline them or to get out what they did out of them, you can tell when the kid breaks" (19:32). Woods firmly believes that severe legal consequences, including life imprisonment or even the death penalty, are warranted for such grave offenses regardless of the offenders' ages.

Detailed Breakdown of the Triple Homicide

Sheriff Woods provides a meticulous account of the April triple homicide:

• Planning and Execution: The juveniles had planned an armed robbery, masking their identities to intimidate the victim. However, internal conflict emerged when one of the perpetrators sought to acquire the firearm for personal use, leading to the murder of the male juvenile victim (12:10).

• Witness Elimination: To eliminate a potential witness, one of the suspects instructed the 12-year-old involved to kill a female witness hiding in the trunk of the car. The sheriff notes, "They thought nothing of taking a human life" (14:09).

• Aftermath and Evidence: The bodies were subsequently disposed of in separate locations, with surveillance footage and digital evidence playing a crucial role in their apprehension.

Contributing Factors to Juvenile Delinquency

Sheriff Woods identifies several key factors contributing to juvenile crime:

1. Family Negligence: Lack of parental supervision and involvement in children's lives.
2. Peer Influence: Association with delinquent peers leading to poor decision-making.
3. Educational System Failures: Insufficient disciplinary measures fail to instill discipline and responsibility.
4. Lack of Accountability: Society's inability to hold juveniles accountable exacerbates the issue.

Proposed Solutions and Future Outlook

Addressing the rise in juvenile crime, Sheriff Woods emphasizes the need for societal change:

• Reinforcing Accountability: Strengthening the role of parents and the family unit in enforcing discipline and responsibility.

  "We need to hold parents more accountable. And because sometimes parents are parents want to be friends to their kids rather than to be a parent." (17:07)

• Educational Reforms: Implementing more effective disciplinary actions within schools to deter misconduct and foster a sense of responsibility.

• Community Engagement: Encouraging community involvement in youth programs to provide positive outlets and mentorship.

Sheriff Woods remains pessimistic about current trends unless significant changes are made. "If we don't change, it's only going to get worse," he warns (17:07). He underscores the urgency of addressing these root causes to prevent further escalation of juvenile crime.

Conclusion

Cheryl Akisson's episode sheds light on a critical and often overlooked issue: the surge in juvenile crime and its implications for society. Through the candid conversation with Sheriff Billy Woods, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the multifaceted causes behind this trend and the dire need for comprehensive solutions. The episode serves as a call to action for communities, families, and policymakers to collaborate in reversing this disturbing trajectory.

Notable Quotes

• Sheriff Woods on accountability:

  "The accountability not just from any one particular entity... our home, our family unit has degraded." (04:04)

• On the emotional impact of juvenile offenders:

  "You can tell when the kid breaks. You can tell when your child knows they've done something wrong and they sincerely know that they've done something wrong as a parent." (19:32)

• On the necessity of legal consequences:

  "They deserve exactly what the law says they deserve in punishment because they have no regard, no concern for another human life." (21:29)

Further Exploration

For those interested in exploring this topic further, Cheryl Akisson recommends tuning into her other podcast episodes, including interviews with victims' family members and individuals who have experienced and overcome juvenile delinquency. Additionally, her upcoming coverage on December 3, 2025, explores the mysterious "Havana Syndrome," offering a scientific perspective on government-reported anomalies.

Supporting Independent Journalism

Cheryl Akisson encourages listeners to support independent journalism by visiting cherylatkisson.com, where they can purchase products that fund investigative reporting and initiatives like the ION Awards. Engaging with such content empowers individuals to think critically and stay informed on vital societal issues.

Transcript

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

What is daddication?

[Cheryl Akisson]

The thing that drives me every day.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

As a dad is Dariona. We call him Dae Date for short. Every day he's hungry for something, whether it's attention, affection, knowledge. And there's this huge responsibility in making sure that when he's no longer under my wing that he's a good person. I want him to be able to sit back one day and go, we worked together. We did a good job. That's dadication. Find out [e-mail] brought to you by the U.S. department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

[Cheryl Akisson]

Hi, everybody. Cheryl Akisson here. I hope you enjoy this special from the Archives edition of Full Measure After Hours. Hi, everybody. Cheryl Achison here. Welcome to another edition of Full Measure After Hours. Today I speak with Marion County, Florida, Sheriff Billy woods, where one of the most horrific violent crimes committed by children is getting ready to go to trial. As I began looking into America's juvenile crime wave, a fitting place to go seemed to be Marion County, Florida. That's where a really horrific crime was committed last year. It's getting ready to go to trial pretty soon here. In this case, there were apparently six children driving around in a car, according to officials, trying to figure out who they might rob to be able to buy marijuana. Well, it ends up that three of the children shot execution style, three of the other children and dumped their bodies. And these bodies were being discovered over the course of the next day or day and a half, actually. One of the young girls that was found initially was still breathing but later passed away. And one of the shooters was 12 years old. And according to the sheriff in Marion County, Billy woods, maybe one of the most shocking things, at least to him, was that when these boys were caught and charged, the 12 year old, he says, showed absolutely no remorse. Now, of course, they haven't been to trial yet, but the idea that they wouldn't be more upset whether innocent or guilty of this crime, there doesn't seem to be any denial that they were all together the night that this happened. But the affect or the emotions, the lack of emotions shown by this 12 year old was really something as far as the sheriff was concerned. And it turns out that across the country, children are increasingly committing and becoming victims in serious crimes. The latest numbers I had found put out by the FBI when I started looking into this were more than three years old. I'm not sure why they can't be a little more updated, but even three years ago, in 20, 20, actually coming on four years ago, these numbers by the FBI showed that murders committed by a juvenile were up 30% and murders involving more than one juvenile up 65%. And I could read you all kinds of more recent statistics from local governments and states because if you do a search online, you'll see that this is being discussed as a problem in so many different places like Montgomery County, Maryland where they say juvenile violent crime went up 329% in 2023. Well, all of this is the topic of my Full Measure cover story on Sunday, January 28th. And in today's podcast you're going to hear an extended interview that I did with Marion County, Florida Sheriff Billy woods, who's put a lot of thought into this problem and has a lot of ideas about what's gone wrong and what should be done about it. Here's Sheriff Woods.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

This is my second term, so I'm going on my eighth year. We have four year terms.

[Interviewer]

Can you in brief form summarize juvenile crime trends you've seen as sheriff, what's happened here?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Well, I'll give you a little as sheriff the trend, not just sheriff, but as an officer, where I previous worked before becoming sheriff, it has increased over the years, you know, slowly. Sadly, juveniles are beginning to well know that there's no accountability to what they do to their actions from small, it could be small crimes, it could be very large crimes like we've had here in Marion and which is going on across. So it's increased. And I, I look at it the way from my view for I'm going on 34 years in law enforcement and it truly boils down to the accountability not just from any one particular entity. And I said this way back in April whenever we had that triple homicide is the fact that our home, our family unit has degraded. Okay, it is degraded for whatever reasons, single parents, male or female, because people that say it's just the female that has a single family, that's not true. We in law enforcement come across just as many fathers that are single family units. But the fact is is, is that that has been destroyed or it is degrading is a better way to put it. And the accountability and what else that I have seen and especially in the family unit is where we victimize the actual wrongdoer. Parents will blame everybody else for their kids actions when they're regardless of the wrongdoing, they blame everybody else except for their own child and don't hold them accountable. And combined with that is our school systems now the school systems, districts, and I'm not singling out any one Particular district, school districts have a tendency to be extremely forgiving. Or they say, well, we give punishment, we suspend them, we kick them. I don't want to say kick them out of school, but they get rid of them at a particular school. And I want to say, really, how many suspension for a kid. Think about this for a minute for a kid, and you got to think like a kid. You're going to suspend me from school? That means I have to spend the day at home and not have to be in a classroom. You think that's punishment to a kid? No, it's not. And those particular areas, along with our juvenile justice system, without within our court systems of holding them accountable, you know, because I promise you and I know what we're about to discuss is our triple homicide. You look at each of those kids, those juveniles say the first time they've done something wrong, it's they've done other things wrong and they don't do that again. Don't do that again.

[Interviewer]

Well, before we speak about that in detail, did there used to be more accountability for juveniles? Did the law used to be stricter on them or. This spike in juvenile crime over time is a reflection of these other factors, like you say, deteriorating family units.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

The law hasn't changed drastically. I think it is all these other factors. Those is. Has what's changed, okay? And I'll give an example of myself. Man, in school, I feared. I did not fear getting the paddling, okay? That's one of the failures in school system is they got rid of the paddling of when a kid did something wrong. What I feared is my father finding out what I did wrong. And I'd take that paddling every day, as many times as I could without ever my dad finding out when I got home. And not that my dad was some mean individual, but he believed in discipline and made me who I am today. Both my mom and my dad think about this for a minute. Now, I know there's probably some city folks that ain't ever experienced this, but you know what I feared of my mother when I got in trouble, when she told me to go get a switch. Okay? I dare not bring back a tiny little switch because the punishment was going to be a whole lot worse if I did. And those are the things that I think it's a combination of those. It's not necessarily the law.

[Interviewer]

It seems like in the past decade or more, law enforcement and the courts, the system has determined with data that seemed to back them up, that when you do tough things to juveniles, it Just makes certain they will continue to commit crimes and if you lock them up, that's their destiny for the future. But if you work with them and maybe as you say, forgive them or don't punish them as harshly, that was supposed to provide better outcomes.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Really, then why do we have the problems that we have right now? If that's what's been implemented and that's what's been occurring, okay, throughout not just the state of Florida, but it's been occurring, Occurring throughout this nation. So if that's the case and if all that data that supposedly supports it, I can give you a list just here locally in my county, a list of individuals where that is not the case.

[Interviewer]

When we're looking at the triple murder that happened in April or triple homicide, I'm not. They were all charged with murder.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Yep. First degree.

[Interviewer]

When did you first sense or know that these were juveniles involved not just as victims, but in committing the crimes.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Pretty much immediately. You know, in all cases that violent cases, shootings, law enforcement pretty much knows who right off the bat, the individual that commits the crime. Very rarely do we. Is it an unknown because we get enough information, we get enough tips that points us in the right direction and everything that we're given is, well, how. Best way to put it, it's where there's smoke, there's fire. So we pretty much know the individuals. We know that we're dealing with juveniles. Obviously the victims, we knew how they were right off the map. But when it comes to the suspects, because of the information, it becomes difficult though, making the charge is getting the evidence to connect the two pieces.

[Interviewer]

When I looked at the mug shots, one of the kids in particular, he looked like a baby and his face just looked so young. I don't know. When you see that, what are the thoughts that go through your head as a law enforcement official?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

You know, it breaks your heart. You know, regardless of what people think, the uniform which we wear, the, the badges in which we have, we're not. If I was to open up my shirt, it doesn't have an S on my T shirt underneath me. Okay, it is, it breaks your heart. Especially for us that are parents ourselves. I, I myself as a father, breaks your heart. You know, you look in the eyes. I looked in the eyes of the mother of that 12 year old and it broke my heart down deep inside to knowing the struggles in which she's going through and as a parent hearing her, what she does. And you know, they were there for the interviews, the parents, the mothers, I should say mothers were There for the interviews and to watch those mothers push their kid to do the right thing was incredible, to be frank. Sadly, that it had to be a circumstance like this makes you wonder, as law enforcement says, what we see, what is the world going to turn out to be beyond us.

[Interviewer]

Can you summarize that crime, the April triple homicide, what really happened there?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

What had been planned, what they had been working on that night, which part of the evidence that we have is one of the victims videotaping. But they had planned on robbing an individual, armed, committing an armed robbery. The male subject, that was one of our victims, he had on a mask and other things that supported that. So their plan was to rob an individual. But one of the other three defendants was wanting the firearm that they had that the male had in there. Not. It is unclear as what occurred between the conversation because obviously you got three, only three people given what was said specifically, but they wanted it. So at that point, that's when they had a gun and then they killed the individual, the male subject, the male juvenile. And because that you have a witness, the driver, which would be in a female, they then shot her. The individual that was in the trunk, oddly, for whatever reason, this was common for her to hide in the trunk. She was videotaping what was occurring or snapchatting. I'm not up to date on a lot of that stuff, the apps that they use out here. But what was occurring because she was bragging of what they were about to do, they were about to commit a lick. In their language, a lick is an armed robbery. But because she was a witness, it's what the defendants, each of the defendants said is one of them told the 12 year old to shoot the one in the trunk because she was a witness and killer and get rid of her.

[Interviewer]

So this was all. They were all part of the same gang and had a dispute among them?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Yes. Yeah. And I said it last year, there's no honor among thieves. And that's exactly what you had here.

[Interviewer]

So for the 12, the 12 year old was the youngest one charged in this crime.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Correct.

[Interviewer]

What did you make out happen? They pulled over the car and what as far as you can tell, handed the gun to someone, handed the gun to him and he.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Yes, for what we have is one of them handed the 12 year old a gun and then instructing him to shoot her in the trunk. And he did. He made the choice decision to shoot. Now, at some point where it's unclear outside of what we physically the physical evidence we have, the one body was dumped at the. Near the dumpster or at a different location. The vehicle then was taken to where the pond or lake, whoever you want to describe it here. And then left there with her in the trunk as well.

[Interviewer]

You said that these kids had done things before. Do you remember some of the other. Were they known to law enforcement and do you remember what they had done before?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

No, I don't off the top of my head I wish it did. I wish I had your. The information for you, but I don't. But they had been involved in I do know and like burglaries or thefts and that types of items everybody wanted to picture. Especially the first victim, female victim, wanted a painter. Like a lot of cases where they paint the individual as some good kid. Okay. The fact is, is no, none of them were. Not just her, all six. They were wrong. That's what they do. That's what they did. They were out. All six of them were going to commit robbery. Whether you're the driver sitting in the backseat or witnessing a thing, you're just as guilty as any. The one actually committing the crime itself, you're participating. So every single one of them were criminals.

[Interviewer]

Was a 12 year old related to anybody else? Any of the other?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

No.

[Interviewer]

What, how did he get mixed up?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Who he associates with friends. And if you look, that's what happens. Both you and I in our lives we made conscious decisions to who we would associate with. And that's one of the things that's also occurring is I personally just. Billy woods parents are not paying attention to whom their kids are hanging out with. Go hang out here. Go hang out. Do this. Midnight, one in the morning. Hell, my boys never were at. They were home in bed, not running the streets at one in the morning. And that's part of the problem.

[Interviewer]

When we look at the nationwide concern over rise in juvenile crime, what do you think is the answer? What do you see as the near term future and what should people think or do about it?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

You know, I think I hit on it. I already hit accountability. We have to change that. And I'm going to hit on the one thing that I know that people want to target and it's an object. Object has nothing to do with it. We don't want to find the true cause of a problem because in this scenario the triple they were. They're not even supposed to possess. You have a law in place that they're not even supposed to possess a firearm. And what we would. The next thing we want to do is create another law that says you can't have this gun. Do you really think the criminals out here give even 2 cents about what law you put in place? They are going to obtain, get, have a handgun and obtain it any which way they can. You're not going to prevent it by doing it. What you're going to do by preventing it is clean up the family in which that's probably the most difficult thing for us to do as a society. Because who am I to tell you how to raise your kids? I know what's the smart thing, I know what's the right thing. You know, I, I look at it also in a spiritual way. You know, where we failed in schools and I have a hard time believing this is when we took prayer out of schools. Now I, I defend the Constitution in the United States, but I, I fail to understand where we take something good out of a, out of a school and make it bad. And that's what we're doing. We're turning something good into something bad. And we need to focus, put our focus back on doing what is right in society and right in the world. And that's what parents, families need to do along with our school systems. School systems need to stand up stronger, hold. We need to hold parents more accountable. And because sometimes parents are. Parents want to be friends to their kids rather than to be a parent. And what the future holds, I don't know, I, I wish I had a little ball that could tell us what to do, where to go, how to change this. I don't have no immediate solutions. I do know if we don't change, it's only going to get worse.

[Interviewer]

What do you think will happen? What is most likely to happen to these three boys?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

What's most like. They're going to be convicted, they're going to face. It's hard to say personally, you know, I got to be careful. But they need the full extent of the law because I'm here to tell you. Let me, let me. I sat and watched interviews. Now I wasn't in the interview. I watched it through video, okay? While it was being conducted, there was zero remorse, there was zero concern of the actions in which each of them did. They thought nothing, nothing of taking a human life. Even the 12 year old, the 12 year old having two boys when you know as a parent, they've done something wrong. So when you go to get after them, to discipline them or to get out what they did out of them, you can tell when the kid breaks. You can tell when your child knows they've done something wrong and they sincerely know that they've done something wrong as a parent. I know it because they will begin to bawl, they will begin to cry and they beg. I'm so sorry. This 12 year old no cried once when we finally got the question answered and then when the question was switched, those tears dried up just like that. Now when my boys tear dried up, I knew they didn't understand a freaking thing that I just told them. They deserve exactly what the law says they deserve in punishment because they have no regard, no concern for another human life and all three of them took three human lives from this planet.

[Interviewer]

Are they entitled to leniency or shorter sentences because they were juveniles?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

No.

[Cheryl Akisson]

Okay.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

No.

[Interviewer]

They're going to be treated like adults.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Correct. They've been adjudicated or they will be tried as adults. All three of them will be like they should be.

[Interviewer]

So they could be in prison for life.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

That's exactly right. At minimum. And truthfully, that's where they should be.

[Interviewer]

Potential death penalty.

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

Yep, it's on the table.

[Interviewer]

Has the juvenile ever been convicted of?

[Sheriff Billy Woods]

No. And there's probably limitations and statutes that the prosecutors are here in the state of Florida in regards to that.

[Cheryl Akisson]

If you're interested in this topic, I hope you will check out my other podcast this week, the Cheryl Atkinson Podcast, where I'm interviewing the grandmother of one of the victims. And I also speak with a young man unrelated to all of this, but who himself got mixed up in all kinds of crime at age 15. He's going to tell us why he thinks he got in it and how he got out. To watch my Full Measure cover story on this topic Sunday, January 28th. You can go to cherylaguson.com and click the Full Measure tab to see a list of stations and times to watch near you on TV. Or just go to FullMeasure News on Sundays at about 9:31, 9:32am Eastern Time, where we will feed that show to you and you can watch it there online and then we post it about noon on Sundays. It'll remain there all week and forevermore if you'd like to search for it. If you're listening to this after January 28th at Fullmeasure News. Also on January 28th I have a fascinating story from Cuba. I went to Cuba's capital of Havana and looked into the reports you may remember a couple of years ago about a supposed mysterious secret weapon that supposedly the Cubans were deploying against US Diplomats. It was supposedly secretly and visibly damaging their brains. And then pretty soon sort of a hysteria broke out and US diplomats and government officials from all around the world were reporting this syndrome and it was given a name, Havana Syndrome. Congress even passed the law to compensate for it. Now it had never even been proven to exist scientifically. This is where the science gets so interesting, what we decide to accept and not accept in terms of science, depending on what our government wants us to think. But they called it Havana Syndrome, passed a law to give compensation for it, and then came out kind of quietly in the last year or so our government did and acknowledged there's really no evidence any of that was ever true. Well, I'm off to Havana on this Sunday, January 28th to report on a scientist there, a top scientist who said this from the beginning. He investigated so called Havana Syndrome and he's going to tell his story as to what he said and why he thought this syndrome was a ridiculous idea after he began investigating it. And you can see what you think after you hear the story for yourself. I hope you enjoyed today's podcast and that if you did, you will leave us a great review and share it with your friends and subscribe. And to support independent journalism, visit cherylatkison.com click on the store tab to find some interesting products for independent thinkers like you, with proceeds going toward independent report such as the ION Awards for original investigative reporting. Do your own research, make up your own mind, think for yourself.