In 1899 the State of Illinois established the nation’s first juvenile court. Illinois thereby eliminated the criminal prosecution, conviction, and incarceration of children, substituting the goals of rehabilitation and amelioration.1 The court was quickly replicated throughout the country, and by 1925 46 of the 48 states, including New York, had established separate tribunals devoted to children’s cases. Virtually every state initially restricted the court’s jurisdiction to children less than 16 years of age. However, the overwhelming majority increased the juvenile delinquency jurisdictional age in the decades immediately following enactment. Today, in 48 states a child who is 16 years of age will be adjudicated in a juvenile or family court, and in most states a child of 17 will be similarly adjudicated (although children who have committed very violent offenses may be “waived” to the adult criminal courts). Only two states, New York and North Carolina, adhere to the early 20th century age limitation.
In the past two years legislative initiatives to join the overwhelming national consensus have been advanced in both New York and North Carolina. The momentum for change has been bolstered by recent neurological brain imaging studies proving that the older adolescent’s brain has not fully matured (particularly those areas that govern judgment and impulse),2 and also the sharply decreasing adolescent crime rate.3 In early 2012 two “competing” bills were introduced in New York: the “Assembly Leadership Bill” and the “Sentencing Commission Bill,” introduced at the request of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, who has been a strong advocate for raising New York’s age. Neither passed, but the proposals have generated widespread discussion and debate. The issue is likely to be seriously debated in the coming months and considered during the 2013 legislative session.
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