Raise The Age for juvenile offenders treated as adults in New York from 16 to 18

From Correctional Association of New York Web Site:

Mineola, NY – This morning, a diverse coalition of stakeholders from across Long Island were joined by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice on the steps of the Nassau County Supreme Court to highlight the damage that treating children as adults in the legal system has on public safety and youth, and called for New York to “Raise the Age.” New York is the only state other than North Carolina where all children 16 and older are automatically treated as adults in the criminal justice system, often ending up in adult jails and prisons.

“Treating each and every teen offender as an adult criminal is an unconscionable disregard for basic brain science and what we know about adolescent development,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice. “Automatically steering teens toward an adult justice system rather than redirecting them to law-abiding futures is a waste of our tax dollars and a drain on our law enforcement resources. The human, financial, and public safety costs of this archaic system are staggering, and I’m working with this diverse coalition to do something about it.”

“Treating young teenagers, whose prefrontal cortex has not fully developed, as adults  in the criminal justice system is shortsighted – it is counterproductive to public safety and the well-being of children,” said Ed Roldan, a retired New York City police officer, current Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW), and Long Island Latino Teachers Association member. “There’s no reason for New York to lag behind nearly every other state in our country. If we want to improve public safety, we need to be smart on crime, consider proactive practices, and venues that allow our children the opportunity to grow surrounded by positive role models and when they make negative decisions, as some will do, we need to stop treating them as adults in the legal system.”

Editor's note: 

What are we thinking here in New York in the way that we treat our children?

For more, check the New York Magazine article by clicking here.

I wonder what Assemblyman Steve Hawley and Senator George Maziarz's position is on this policy change? If you know, leave a comment or email me at davidgmarkham@gmail.com

As a community, as a State, we can do better than this. 48 other states and most other developed countries already do.