RALEIGH- North Carolina has long been one of the only states in America to adjudicate 16 and 17-year-olds as adults in the legal system. Last week that changed.
On May 21, a bipartisan bill to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction (HB725) passed by winning a floor vote in the N.C. House. Democrats and Republicans supported a measure that “will make communities safer, save taxpayers money, and improve outcomes for children.”

The legislation will move to the Senate.

“The Raise the Age bill…will lead to both significant fiscal savings and much better outcomes for children and families,” said bill sponsor Rep. Marilyn Avila. “Speaking for our bipartisan coalition, I look forward to the full General Assembly eventually approving ‘Raise the Age’ legislation.”

Craig DeRoche, president of Justice Fellowship, said that they have seen this policy in other states lead to both fiscal savings and the restoration of children’s lives.
North Carolina is one of two states that automatically prosecutes all 16 and 17-year-olds with misdemeanors as adults, even for “low-level offenses like stealing a bag of Doritos,” according to NC Child, an advocacy group. With the passage of this bill these youth will now be handled as part of the juvenile system. (Those who commit violent crimes will still be prosecuted as adults – a low percentage of overall age-group offenses.)

“With this vote, North Carolina has gone a long way toward protecting and leveling the playing field for its young people,” said Brandy Bynum of NC Child. “We have strongly affirmed the importance of family and community in getting underage misdemeanants back on track.”

Bynum went on to salute proponents of the bill who took a bipartisan approach to doing “what was right for North Carolina’s kids.”

According to raisetheagenc.com, “Adult jails can turn kids in career criminals, with tax payers footing the bill. By raising the age of how we punish and straighten out kids who make minor mistakes, we’ll keep our communities safer, our kids on the right track, (and) our tax dollars working toward common sense solutions rather then perpetuating problems.”

According to site statistics, the policy change could generate $97.9 million in long-term benefits among 16 and 17-year-olds arrested during a given 12-month period. Raising the age in Connecticut returned $3 in benefits for every $1 spent. The site also said that kids handled in the juvenile justice system repeat offend far less than those dealt with in the adult system.

Prosecuting children as adults can oftentimes create significant legal and circumstantial issues for those it affects. A few months ago the Tribune reported a about Selina Garcia, a 17-year-old Wake County high school student who was arrested and jailed as a result of getting into an altercation on a school bus. Though just a teenager, she was placed with women inmates in an adult facility for more than two weeks. As part of the foster care system, she did not have a legal guardian to sign her out, and being under the age of 18, she could not sign herself out. She was “adult” enough for the legal justice system, but not adult enough to be her own guardian.

“I am pleased that North Carolina policymakers are increasingly recognizing that high school-aged youngsters who commit a misdemeanor belong in the juvenile justice system where better outcomes for public safety and taxpayers can be achieved,” said Marc Levin of Right on Crime and the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Fortunately, policymakers are coming together to ensure that these young misdemeanants are held accountable in the juvenile system where the evidence shows they can more effectively be reformed.”

For more information visit www.raisetheagenc.com

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