(Long Island, NY) Panelists will highlight “smart on crime effort” following Gov. Cuomo’s announced plan to form commission that will recommend reforms to bring NY into line with rest of nation. Discussion will focus on the impact of outdated law on public safety and LI youth, and explore potential effects of reforms on New York and Suffolk County.
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. Currently, all of the estimated 50,000 16- and 17-year-olds arrested in New York each year, whether for a felony or misdemeanor, are presumptively treated as adults and their cases adjudicated in adult criminal courts. Approximately three out of every four arrests of the juveniles – 75.3 percent – are for misdemeanors. On Long Island, 2,704 youth between the ages of 16 and 17 years old were arrested in 2010, 76.6 percent for misdemeanors.
Research shows that treating children as adults in the criminal justice system is ineffective, and they react better to age-appropriate interventions available in the youth justice system. Studies have found that young people transferred to the adult criminal justice system have approximately 34% more re-arrests for felony crimes than those retained in the youth justice system. Around 80% of youth released from adult prisons reoffend, often going on to commit more serious crimes. Studies also show that youth in adult prisons are twice as likely to report being beaten by staff, and nearly 50% more likely to be attacked with a weapon than children placed in youth facilities. Youth in adult prisons face the highest risk of sexual assault, and are often placed in solitary confinement, making them 36 times more likely to commit suicide than youth placed in a juvenile facility.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 at 9:00am, Fresh Start Job Fair 11:00am-2:00pm, Suffolk County Community College, Michael J. Grant Campus; Health, Sports and Education Center; 1001 Crooked Hill Road, Brentwood, NY.
Support for the Raise the Age NY campaign has been growing throughout the state, with backing from Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, Schenectady District Attorney Rob Carney and Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson. In January, Governor Cuomo announced his support for raising the age of criminal responsibility in his State of the State address, revealing his plans to appoint a commission to develop actionable recommendations to change the law by the end of the year.
