by Jamaal T. Bailey
NY Daily News Op-Ed
January 14, 2024

Seven years ago, New York closed a shameful chapter of our history, becoming one of the last two states in the nation to stop prosecuting 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.

New York’s Raise the Age law, passed with bipartisan support in 2017, moves most of our young people’s cases through Family Court, focusing on rehabilitation rather than criminalization. The reform aimed to rectify the harms of a system that subjected young people to adult incarceration and lifelong barriers they would have to carry into their adult lives.

… The truth is there is no evidence that Raise the Age has increased crime, including serious crime, among 16- and 17-year-olds across New York State, and reports alleging young people are driving the spike in gun violence are wholly unfounded. During the first 18 months of Raise the Age, New York City saw historically low levels of shootings, even as arrests and incarcerations of 16- and 17-year-olds declined.

… A recent report from John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that the share of felony dangerous weapons offenses committed by people under 18 in New York City has actually decreased since Raise the Age was passed in 2017. Those under 18 also represented a smaller share of felony weapons arrests in 2022 (8%) than in 2014 (9%) or 2006 (11%).

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