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Raise the Age

Raise the Age (RTA): A Synopsis

“Raise the Age” legislation passed in 2017, increasing the age of criminal responsibility for non-violent crimes from 16 to 18, and prohibited youth from being held in the same jail facilities as adults.

Raise the Age reform intended to “treat youth like youth.”

The first major reform to New York State’s criminal justice system, Raise the Age legislation increased the age of criminal responsibility for non-violent crimes from 16 to 18 so offenders could receive social interventions and treatment. It was followed by “Raise the Lower Age,” which increased the age youth could be prosecuted from seven to 12, and the age youth could be held in secure detention from 10 to 13 (except for homicides).

  • Youth make mistakes.

    • They should be allowed to not have those mistakes haunt them for life. But mistakes and serious/violent crimes differ.
  • Raise the Age tightened restrictions in jails and prisons.

    • Facilities were already required to house minors separately from adults and not allow them to co-mingle. Raise the Age went further, mandating youth can no longer be kept at the same facilities as adults.
    • This resulted in a housing crisis at existing juvenile facilities, which lacked the infrastructure and capacity to accommodate increased demand.
  • The unintended result of Raise the Age is increased crime and recidivism

    • The product of youths’ perception there are no consequences for criminal behavior. It reduced a district attorney’s ability to prosecute youth in Criminal Court, moving most serious and even violent crimes to private Family Court, disregarding victims.
  • We need common sense applied

    • Youth charged with serious and violent crimes must be dealt with in the appropriate courts and receive intervention, resources, and consequences.
  • Victims must be made whole.

Raise the Age: An Editorial

They told us it was all about the youth.

Maybe, but one thing is for certain - it wasn’t about the victims.

Raise The Age reform passed in April 2017. It came with good intentions but, like most state mandates, lacked funding. And reality.

Raise the Age eliminated consequences for juveniles by moving their cases from criminal courts to Family Court, where victims and the public aren’t allowed to know how they were adjudicated. Designed to engage troubled youth with services, instead, Raise the Age emboldened many. It curtailed detention and returned them to the streets to re-offend. Repeat offenders mean more crime and more victims.

By insisting most juvenile lawbreakers, even violent ones, disappear into the black hole of Family Court, Raise the Age traumatizes crime victims a second time by forcing them to accept no justice. Unfortunately, the relatively few offenders held in detention are still too many for an inadequate juvenile corrections system. To find a secure facility, law enforcement sometimes must ferry youth around the state, away from family and counsel. Moreover, existing juvenile detention facilities lacked appropriate infrastructure to keep safe the onslaught of offenders they were forced to house, along with the staff asked to maintain order, care, and custody.

Raise the Age set two goals: treat 16 and 17-year-old defendants as youth in Family Court and better deliver them resources through pre-trial services. The legislature thought Raise the Age would miraculously fix youth by reducing detention and incarceration, stopping housing juveniles with adults, removing cases from criminal to Family Court, and improving the continuity of the legal process.

Most youth are street-smart. They know Family Court is a slap on the wrist. Interventions are only as effective as the effort a juvenile puts in. They know if caught again – it’s just Family Court or an appointment with a probation officer. In Monroe County, about 80 percent of juvenile cases that start in criminal court transfer to Family Court. That’s reflected across the state, higher in New York City.

Raise the Age gives youth a second chance, particularly those in disproportionately affected communities – if they do something stupid, they don’t automatically go to jail. Through “diversion,” youth can be redirected away from crime.

But sadly, across New York, prosecutors report the toughest issue is guns – youth caught carrying an illegal firearm typically transfers to Family Court. Even cases where they threatened someone with it, are often considered non-violent and transferred. With no consequences, too frequently, that youth gets another gun, and the probability of them using it increases.

Raise the Age circumvents judicial process. It endangers the public by returning violent offenders to the streets. It takes discretion away from judges and prosecutors to make it look like the reform is successful.

Pro-Raise the Age legislators shied away from specifying what crimes are violent. They created undefined legal terms that left judges and prosecutors scratching their heads. Disregarding impacts on victims and the fact there are youth who require something more than social intervention endangers everyone.

Let’s not wait for more youth’s lives to be derailed or lost by misdirected leniency. Unchecked recklessness and ignorance of youth, combined with today’s disregard for other people, just produce more victims.

WHY WE CARE

“There is a high level of concern for at-risk youth losing their way and becoming involved with illegal guns. There must be more accountability at home and consequences for actions.”

Rev. Benjamin Cox

FAITH LEADERS ROUNDTABLE OF ROCHESTER

“Youth in our community need our love, and sometimes that love comes in the form of accountability. We must be able to demonstrate to our youth when behavior is unacceptable in our society. If the law is unable to provide for consequences when it is broken, it hamstrings the ability to change youth behavior at critical moments. When that ability is lost, the chaos we are experiencing now will only become worse.”

Pastor Don Stevens

BAPTIST MINISTERS ALLIANCE

Raise the Age needs a rewrite and a reality check.

Raise the Age: A Timeline

Raise The Age legislation raised the age of criminal responsibility in New York State to 18 years of age, with the intent for young people who commit non-violent crimes to receive intervention and treatment.

Prior to the implementation of Raise The Age, criminal responsibility began at age 16 and cases were handled in adult courts where proceedings were public record. Youth ages seven through 15 went to Family Court where proceedings are private. With the passage of Raise The Age legislation, the changes indicated on this timeline were executed.

2017

In April 2017, Raise the Age legislation was passed with the intent to:

  • Reduce detention of youth
  • Not detain juveniles in the same facilities as adults
  • Establish a process to move cases from criminal court to family court
  • Improve the continuity of the legal process

2018

Effective October 2018, 16-year-olds were no longer criminally responsible in most cases. They could no longer be detained in county jails, no matter how severe their charges were.

2019

Effective October 2019, 17-year-olds were no longer criminally responsible in most cases. They could no longer be detained in county jails, no matter how severe their charges were.

2022

With the passage of “Raise The Lower Age,” effective December 29, 2022, the lowest age youth could enter the justice system was raised from seven to 12 years old. This ended the prosecution of youth ages seven to 11 as juvenile delinquents. The youngest age a youth could be held in secure detention was raised from 10 to 13. The changes don’t apply to youth accused of homicide.

Raise the Age: Additional Information

“Treat youth like youth” best describes the intent of the Raise The Age portion of criminal justice reform in New York. The initiative has two overall missions:

  • Handle most criminal cases of 16 and 17-year-olds in Family Court
  • Improve delivery of support and rehabilitation services to youth and their families

Passed in April 2017 as part of the New York State Budget, Raise the Age was designed to accomplish those missions by:

  • Reducing detention and incarceration of youth
  • Not detaining or incarcerating juveniles in the same facilities as adults
  • Establishing a process to remove cases from Criminal Court to Family Court
  • Bettering continuity of the legal process – court assigned, defense counsel, prosecutor

Prior to the implementation of Raise The Age reforms, criminal responsibility began at age 16 and cases went to adult courts where proceedings were public record. Youth ages seven through 15 went to Family Court where proceedings are private. With the passage of reforms in April 2017, the following changes took place:

  • Effective October 2018 – 16-year-olds were no longer criminally responsible in most cases
  • Effective October 2019 – 17-year-olds were no longer criminally responsible in most cases
  • Issued specific directives to county Probation Departments on handling Juvenile Offenders and Adolescent Offenders
  • Established “Youth Part” of county superior courts statewide

Under laws that existed before Raise The Age reforms, and as a result of the directives to probation departments, victims of crimes cannot be told about statements made by youth accused of crimes nor find out the dispositions of cases involving them that are handled by Family Court.

Definitions

As a result of Raise The Age reforms, existing definitions of youth offenders were revised and a new category was added to the law:

Adjustments

“Raise The LOWER Age” legislation passed in June 2022:

  • Effective December 29, 2022 – the lowest age youth could be brought into the justice system was raised to 12 years old. It had previously been seven. This effectively ended the prosecution of youth as young as seven as Juvenile Delinquents
  • Effective December 29, 2022 – the youngest a youth could be held in secure detention was raised to 13 years old. It had previously been 10.
  • Neither change applies to youth alleged to have committed homicides.

Research

The initial legislation created a Raise The Age Implementation Task Force which issued its final report in March 2020 and requires the New York State Office of Children and Family Services to collect data on cases involving youth since the reforms took effect.

WHY WE CARE

"As a long-time professional educator, it’s been my experience that kids make mistakes and do not need to be detained, unable to continue their lives and education. Other youth are dangerous. Our criminal justice system must be able to differentiate between the two. We need the ability to provide a time-out to young people who present a risk to public safety and make every effort to get them and their families the support they need."

Legislator Howard Maffucci

MONROE COUNTY LEGISLATURE, DISTRICT 10