Thursday, June 18, 2015
NY Juvenile Justice Funders Urge State Officials to 'Raise the Age'
Dear Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Heastie:
We are writing as funders with over a hundred years of collective experience on juvenile justice issues. We’re excited that this year’s adopted budget includes funding to implement reforms to the juvenile justice system and “raise the age” at which youth are charged as adults. This is greatly needed and it is needed now.
We have seen many states grappling with the question of how to deal most effectively with juvenile crime. Almost all of them have come to the same conclusion: adolescents are children, and prosecuting and placing them in the adult criminal justice system harms them and doesn’t work for public safety. In fact, only New York and North Carolina put 16- and 17-year-olds through the adult criminal justice system, no matter the charge....