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Raise the Age Rally in Albany Urges State Leaders to Pass Smart-on-Crime LegislationReleased March 7, 2017Research Shows Charging 16 and 17-Year-Olds as Adults is Detrimental to Youth Development, Bad for Public Safety ALBANY, NY – Hundreds of Raise the Age advocates, leaders and supporters gathered in Albany today, demanding state leaders raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 years old and include it in the final budget. Support for raise the age legislation has garnered significant momentum recently – Governor Cuomo included Raise the Age legislation in his budget, the Assembly passed a bill last month, Senate Democrats and the IDC have both voiced support and Senate Republicans expressed an openness to legislation. New York and North Carolina are the only two remaining states that charge all 16 and 17-year old youth as adults, despite research and studies showing that raising the age of criminal responsibility improves public safety and leads to better outcomes for youth. “This is the year for New York to join 48 other states in implementing common sense criminal justice reforms,” said Naomi Post, Executive Director for the Children’s Defense Fund-New York. “Charging youth as adults proves harmful to their development, increases recidivism and ultimately does not keep our communities safe.” “Charging youth as youth ensures they receive the interventions they need, which has been proven to protect public safety by reducing recidivism,” said Jennifer March, Executive Director of Citizens’ Committee for Children. “In addition, the Family Court is the right venue for most of these cases to be heard because the Family Court can address the needs of the family when appropriate, the Judges and attorneys have years of experience and training, as well as access to the services that have already been proven to be effective.” “Once again, we rally together to call on the legislature to finally pass a comprehensive Raise the Age initiative,” said Paige Pierce, CEO of Families Together in New York State. “While we’ve spent years sharing the data, science, and often detrimental consequences our current system exacts, 16 and 17-year-old children have been counting on us to rescue them from the physical and emotional harm they often endure. We must respond with systemic reforms that will consider such youth as more than an inmate number, providing them with the supports and services they need to succeed and a pathway to productive citizenship.” “When the state puts 16 and 17-year-old kids into adult prisons, it is sending the message that we as a society have given up on them,” said Ivette Alfonso, President of Citizen Action of New York. “A young man or woman who’s brain functions are not fully developed does not belong in a jail cell, they need counseling and support. If we are going to be serious about rehabilitation, New York state must break from the cycle of pushing kids from schools to prisons, and raise the age.” “While 28,000 young lives hang in the balance, we wait, seemingly in vain, for true leadership on this vital issue rather than political calculation and gamesmanship. We need to pass comprehensive raise the age legislation this budget session,” said Executive Director Cora Greenberg, Westchester Children’s Association. “CCA, with youth and parents we serve, has long been calling for the New York State Legislature to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18. Each year of inaction has harmed many young people warehoused in the adult criminal justice system. It is imperative that 2017 becomes the year that New York State ends its pariah status and enacts this just and fair reform,” said CCA Senior Policy Fellow, Marsha Weissman. “The Legislature and Governor Cuomo have a genuine opportunity to fully raise the age of criminal responsibility and finally bring New York’s juvenile justice system in line with the 48 other states ,” said Tami Steckler, Attorney-In-Charge of the Juvenile Rights Practice at The Legal Aid Society. “But the devil is in the details, and any efforts that would expand crimes under the juvenile offender law or refuse to recognize all 16 and 17 year olds as adolescents undermines true and needed reform. New York families deserve better and they deserve a full-fledged, comprehensive raise the age immediately.” The final budget will be implemented by March 31. You can follow the campaign on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag, #RaisetheAgeNY About the Raise the Age NY campaign: Raise the Age NY is a public awareness campaign that includes national and local advocates, youth, parents, law enforcement and legal representative groups, faith leaders, and unions that have come together to increase public awareness of the need to implement a comprehensive approach to raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York State so that the legal process responds to all children as children and provides services and placement options that better meet the rehabilitative needs of all children and youth. New York is one of only two states in the country (the other is North Carolina) that have failed to recognize what research and science have confirmed – adolescents are children, and prosecuting and placing them in the adult criminal justice system doesn’t work for them and doesn’t work for public safety. Children who are prosecuted as adults are more likely to continue committing crimes in the future. Children who are treated as children are more likely to stay out of jail, and out of the justice system:
Studies also show that children charged as adults are most likely prosecuted for low-level crimes and children of color have disproportionate rates of incarceration.
Research into brain development underscores that adolescents are in fact children and that the human brain is not fully formed until the age of 25:
For more information about the Raise the Age campaign, visit www.raisetheageny.com. Lead group members: Center for Community Alternatives Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York Correctional Association of New York Families Together in NYS Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies NAACP Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy The Children’s Agenda The Children’s Defense Fund – New York The Fund for Modern Courts Westchester Children’s Association Youth Represent Additional supporters to date: 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East 32BJ SEIU Alternatives for Battered Women American Friends Service Committee (NY) Amnesty International Arab American Association of NY Association for Community Living, Inc. Association of NYS Youth Bureaus Association to Benefit Children Harry Belafonte Bronx Christian Fellowship Church Bronx Clergy Roundtable Brooklyn Community Services Brooklyn Defender Services Campaign to End the New Jim Crow Casa Rochester/Monroe County, Inc. Center for Children’s Initiatives Center for Popular Democracy Child Welfare Organizing Project Children’s Village Citizens Action of New York City of Glen Cove Youth Bureau Coalition for Asian American Children and Families Coalition for Education Justice Coalition for Hispanic Children and Families Coalition for the Homeless Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Commission on the Public’s Health System Communities United for Police Reform Community Connections for Youth Community Service Society Community Voices for Youth and Families Crossway Church Dignity in Schools Campaign – New York Equal Justice Initiative Faith in New York Families On The Move of NYC, Inc. First Corinthian Baptist Church Forestdale Inc. Good Shepherd Services Graham Windham Harlem Children’s Zone Herstory Human Services Council Incarcerated Nation Corp. Jewish Child Care Association Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club Latino Justice PRLDEF Lawyers for Children Leake &Watts Services, Inc. Legal Action Center Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Long Island Progressive Coalition Lutheran Family Health Centers Make the Road New York Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc. MFY Legal Services, Inc. Montefiore School Health Program National Association of Social Workers – New York State National Economic and Social Rights Initiative NASW-NYC Neighborhood Family Services Coalition New York American Academy of Pediatrics, District II New York Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers, Inc. New York Center for Juvenile Justice New York Civil Liberties Union New York Lawyers for the Public Interest New York Society for Ethical Culture New York State Coalition for Children’s Mental Health New York State Coalition for School-Based Health Centers New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare New York State Council of Churches New York Theological Seminary NYC Jails Action Coalition Partnership for After School Education (PASE) Partnership for the Public Good Partners in Restorative Initiatives Pumphouse Projects Save the Kids SCO Family of Services Staten Island Council on Child Abuse and Neglect S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth Inc. Teachers Unite The Black Institute The Brotherhood/Sister Sol The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) The Children’s Aid Society The Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies, Inc. The Fortune Society The Legal Aid Society The National Alliance for Mental Illness-New York State The New York Foundling The New York State Dispute Resolution Association The Osborne Association The Partnership For Public Good The Resolution Plan Tremont United Methodist Church United Neighborhood Houses Unique People Services Uniting Disabled Individuals, Inc Urban Health Plan, Inc. Urban Justice Center Urban Youth Collaborative VOCAL-NY Women’s City Club of New York Pastor Mike Walrond William F. Ryan Community Health Network YOUTH POWER! ###
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