We must not go backwards. Join the statewide call to invest in proven, community-driven solutions to help young people recover from the trauma of the past two years, and make our communities safer. We need your voice today! #NoRollbacks
On October 1, 2019, the Raise the Age New York law fully phased in, ending our state's practice of automatically charging all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for any offense.
Check out our video series to learn more about the law and what needs to happen next.
Learn MoreOur four policy priorities heading into 2020 are focused on achieving youth justice across the state by building on, and moving beyond, Raise The Age. Find out what's next for youth justice in New York State.
Learn More
We ask that you standing with us in support of our young people and communities. We need investment in what we know works to help recover from the collective trauma of the past two years. We must not go backwards.
Please sign on by March 18, 2022 at 5:00pm Eastern.
The Raise the Age Coalition applauds the New York State Senate and Assembly for supporting Governor Hochul’s proposals to make localized investments in communities hit hardest by the pandemic and related economic devastation, which is key to addressing the root causes of violence. The pandemic has compromised the safety and stability of families, highlighting and exacerbating existing inequalities and disproportionately impacting youth of color. New York’s children, youth and families have experienced enormous adversity and disruption. As we recover from the collective trauma of the COVID-19 crisis across New York and work to uproot systemic racism from our criminal legal system, this is the moment for a bold new vision for youth justice for more resilient and safer communities.
We are pleased to see that Senate and Assembly One House Resolutions make robust investments to lift incomes, promote housing security and expand access to community-based violence prevention and alternatives to incarceration. Furthermore, the Senate’s One House Budget Resolution would ensure that New York City can finally access state Raise the Age resources. As the budget negotiation process moves forward, the Governor and Legislature must endorse and build on these proposals by adopting language in the final budget that streamlines the process for implementation, making certain resources reach counties quickly to support direct service organizations led by and serving youth that are rooted in the community.
The FY23 One House Budget Resolutions are an acknowledgment that in order to make our communities safer it is imperative that we continue to fully fund Raise the Age implementation statewide, and that we embrace a public health response to gun violence. In the final budget, we urge Governor Hochul and the Legislature to deepen investments in youth programming, including county-level internships and afterschool programming, as well as expand access to peer-supported behavioral health services. New York needs bold investments that will support and uplift young people and it is critical the final FY23 State Budget make that a reality.
To Make New York Safer, Legislators Should Focus on Passing a Budget that Makes Unprecedented Investments in Young People and Communities.
February 14, 2022 – Today, Mayor Adams visited Albany to meet with lawmakers about rolling back criminal justice reforms, including Raise the Age, and making it easier to prosecute 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in criminal court. The Raise the Age campaign thanks Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Heastie for their steadfast support and refusal to return to failed policies of the past.
Every New Yorker deserves to be safe. Communities across the City and State are deeply concerned about the surge in shootings since the start of the pandemic. As our legislative leaders have noted, these increases are part of a national trend in many communities, unrelated to recent reforms. They call for real solutions, not politically convenient rollbacks that scapegoat children for the failures of adults to keep communities safe.
We call on our elected officials to continue to reject this invitation to revisit the Raise the Age law, and to pass a budget that centers on young people and advances a public health response to gun violence. This starts by ensuring that full funding for Raise the Age implementation is reaching communities, and increasing investments in a wide range of community-based resources for youth.
Today’s gun violence is not the result of Raise the Age. The facts are clear: within the first 18 months of the law, youth arrests and detentions dropped and the number of shootings across the city sunk to record lows. The recent increase in crime in many communities across the U.S., including places where there has been no criminal justice reform, is instead a direct result of the pandemic and related economic devastation.
The pandemic has compromised the safety and stability of families, dramatically exacerbating existing socio-economic inequalities with the loss of caregivers, loss of employment and income, education disruption, and skyrocketing behavioral health needs – all disproportionately impacting youth of color.
A few weeks ago, the Raise the Age NY campaign put out a Youth Justice Agenda for New York, endorsed by over 50 youth-serving, community, and civil rights organizations statewide. We call for a bold new vision for youth justice to achieve genuine, lasting safety for youth, families, and communities.
Our statewide elected leaders in Albany must stay focused on the critical task at hand – they must adopt a budget that makes sorely needed investments in New York’s youth, ensuring access to behavioral health care, employment, youth development, as well violence-reduction programming that is rooted in communities and centers credible messengers.
This is not the time to go backwards. New York spent generations treating children as adults in the criminal courts with no correlation to reduced crimes rates. Proposals to amend Raise the Age legislation scapegoat youth and distract from the actual solutions our elected leaders must responsibly advance to achieve public safety.
For more information, contact:
RaisetheAgeNY.org | @RaisetheAgeNY
January 13, 2022 – In April 2017, the New York State legislature enacted landmark legislation raising the age of automatic adult prosecution in New York to 18. Before that, New York had the shameful distinction of being one of only two states in the country—along with North Carolina—to charge all 16- and 17- year-olds in adult criminal court, subjecting teenagers who were not eligible to vote to permanent criminal records and adult prison sentences.
After the Raise the Age law went into effect in 2018, arrests and incarceration of 16-and 17-year-olds declined while crime remained the lowest it has been in New York in decades. Nevertheless, some have falsely blamed these long-overdue reforms for the recent increase in gun violence in New York. This document sets the record straight by covering some Myths and Facts about Raise the Age in NY.
Myth: Raise the Age reforms have caused an increase in gun violence among youth.
Fact: During the first eighteen months of the Raise the Age law, shootings in New York City remained the lowest they have been in decades, even as arrests and incarceration of 16- and 17-year-olds declined. Only after months of COVID-19 infections, deaths, and lockdowns, did gun violence increase in New York City, as it did in many cities around the country where criminal justice reforms had not been enacted. And while we must address this recent rise as part of community recovery from the COVID crisis, it is important to recognize that the numbers are still far lower than the rates of gun violence in 2000, when 16- and 17-year-olds were all prosecuted as adults for all criminal charges, even the most minor.
Myth: Under Raise the Age, all teenagers are tried in family court, even for the most serious offenses.
Fact: Under Raise the Age, all felony cases against all 16- and 17-year-olds are filed in the adult criminal courts. If the judge in the case finds that the young person is accused of causing significant physical injury, displaying a deadly weapon, or engaging in any sexual offense—or if the judge finds any other “extraordinary circumstances”—the case remains in adult court, where adult sentencing applies.
Myth: Because of Raise the Age, all teenagers arrested with guns are sent to family court.
Fact: Under the Raise the Age law, any case involving display of a firearm or other deadly weapon is tried in adult court. When a 16- or 17-year old is charged with possessing but not displaying a gun–or any other felony offense—the prosecutor always can always file a motion arguing that the teenager should be tried as an adult. The judge can consider a wide range of factors such as: the young person’s past criminal history, including open and closed cases; suspected gang involvement; the extent of the harm caused; and whether the young person is a good candidate to benefit from services in family court.
Myth: When a case is removed to family court, a teenager faces no consequences or accountability.
Fact: Going to family court is not a “get out of jail free” card and does not mean that a teenager will avoid detention or placement or be free of court supervision. Family court uses a range of tools including probation supervision and intensive case management, mandated family and individual counseling, and detention and long-term placement in a residential facility. In some cases, family court mandates are more intensive than those in adult court.
Myth: More severe adult criminal penalties for adolescents will decrease gun violence.
Fact: New York spent decades treating children as adults in the criminal courts with no correlation to reduced crimes rates. Gun violence is an economic justice issue. We can’t incarcerate our way out of it—that has been tried and failed. Our young people, families, and communities need safe and stable housing; green spaces; high-quality education and vocational programs; accessible and culturally competent health and mental health services; youth engagement programs; living wage jobs; and programs that address gun violence as the public health issue that it is.
© 2024 Raise the Age NY
