YOUNGSTOWN — If nothing else, the sheer number of adults who turned out to speak to six juvenile boys Tuesday at the Mahoning County Courthouse should have made an impression on them.

The participants sat in folding chairs in the courtroom of Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Anthony D’Apolito and heard from speaker after speaker — judges, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, a nurse in the trauma department of St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, and a loved one of someone who died through violence.

The six were selected because someone in law enforcement felt the young men were heading toward a life of violence and possible death or incarceration and were good candidates for a “call-in.”

The Youngstown Community Initiative to Reduce Violence has been hosting call-ins for young adults for years. This time it was for juveniles. And dozens of adults there prepared to give short remarks or sit in to observe and learn how to carry one out in their community.

C.I.R.V. said one reason for the Call-In is an increase in gun-violence cases in the past year.

Brown, whose flair for speech is legendary, dove right in: “I’m here for you. It’s just me and you talking,” he said. “I had to decide what hat to put on today. Am I gonna be the mayor? Am I gonna be Big Unc? Am I gonna be Dad? Or just be a concerned citizen? As the mayor, I’m gonna make sure you have the resources that you need to get out of every situation you have.

“But like I tell my kids, there’s nothing that you can do by yourself that we can’t do together,” he said. “They might ask, ‘You’re the mayor of the city of Youngstown. What do you know about my lifestyle? If you mind, could I give you a little bit of my story?’

“Born and raised in the city of Youngstown, single mom, Youngstown public schools. I’ve had friends and family who have been killed by violence. In the 1990s, you’ve probably just heard about the 90s. But many of my friends died during that time.”

He said one phrase they will hear is “They had so much potential. I said ‘There is potential. Somebody’s got to take this spot. But mayor I can’t do it. Why can’t you? I just told you I was raised in a single-parent home, Youngstown City Schools. My dad was in and out of prison most of my life. I could have done the generational thing.

“But my dad made sure he stopped me from doing what he did. You know what he told me? I’ve done enough jail time. You don’t have to go to jail. Today is an opportunity for you to say ‘You know what? I don’t like my freedom being taken away from me.”

He added, “As a father, I don’t want to have to bury my child. I want my children to bury me. I want you all to live long enough that you grow a gray beard. I keep it like this for a reason. I want you to get there.”

D’Apolito, who worked many years at the Mahoning County Juvenile Court, told the group the story of the young people who went to prison for their role in the killing of 18-year-old Brandon Wareham at a home on Rhoda Avenue on the West Side in 2018.

He focused on the role of Michael Sherman, who was 19 when he went along with two other males and two younger kids to rob Wareham of marijuana. Sherman did not have a gun, but one of the others shot Wareham to death because the other male “had a beef with him,” the judge said.

“Everything was caught on video,” he said of a home security video from across the street. “You can see the shot. You can see the car backing out of the driveway. It took about an hour before the police knew the names of everybody.”

Sherman was found guilty at trial of aggravated murder, and D’Apolito sentenced Sherman to the minimum of 23 years to life in prison. Sherman had “never been in trouble. He’s a young kid like you. They offered him 15 years,” but he would not go along because he said “I didn’t do anything.” He had not plan the robbery, did not have a gun. “But if you are there and you are convicted, the minimum I could give you was 23 years.”

He said Sherman “is there because of his friends and the friends he chose, not because of his intended outcome but because of the law and how it treats even people who are 17 and 18. You want to do adult things. You will be held to adult accountability,” he said.

He said he stopped counting after handling 15 criminal cases in common pleas court involving juveniles he met as defendants in juvenile court.

“Never mind the three that are dead.”