Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Gov. Cuomo Commish: New York State Should Raise the Age to 18

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New York state should raise the age that youths can be tried and convicted as adults to 18, a commission appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo recommended Monday. Cuomo, speaking in Albany, said he planned to propose the recommendations of the Governor’s Commission on Youth, Public Safety & Justice as a legislative package to the State Assembly. In a 164-page report, the commission said its recommendations would reduce by 1,500 to 2,400 the number of crimes against people across the state every five years while saving taxpayer dollars. And pointing to states including Connecticut and Illinois that have raised the age of criminal responsibility, the report said recidivism and juvenile crime rates can be lowered through “evidence-based” interventions that steer nonviolent young offenders out of the juvenile justice system and into family mental health or other services. “Extensive research on the significant negative impacts on adolescents of incarceration in adult jails and prisons has brought a sense of urgency for reform,” the report stated.

‘Dual-Status’ Kids Endure Another Kind of Double Jeopardy

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So-called dual-status youth, those in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, present enormous challenges. Many of the children are chronic runaways who have suffered from severe physical or emotional abuse, neglect and abandonment. They typically come from troubled homes often beset by domestic violence, substance abuse and mental illness.

Historically, the juvenile justice and other child-serving systems have not worked together. That’s starting to change, albeit slowly.

The complexities of dealing with dual-status kids notwithstanding, success stories show how breaking down barriers between the juvenile justice and child welfare systems can make all the difference in a child’s life.

Newton County Juvenile Court

Georgia Earning a Name for Juvenile Justice in a New Way

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Newton County is one of four sites in the nation chosen by the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps to serve as a demonstration project — to show how the juvenile justice court can work with DFCS, other children-serving agencies and the community to identify dual status youth and get them the help they need.

Lady Justice

Cooperation Improves Kids’ Lives in Tribal Nation within County

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BEMIDJI, Minn. — Way up in northwestern Minnesota, progress is being made within the Ojibwe tribes. Since September, the traditional divisions between the systems of juvenile justice and child welfare have begun to be erased.

Shawn Marsh

OP-ED: Indiscriminate Shackling of Children in Juvenile Court Should End

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The practice of indiscriminate shackling of children in juvenile court — the use of wrist, belly or ankle restraints, often with limited consideration of the case’s circumstances — is fraught with peril from a developmentally or trauma-informed perspective.

Senator Charles Grassley

Grassley Demands DOJ Respond to Fraud Allegations

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U.S. Sen. Charles E. Grassley has asked the Justice Department to respond to whistleblowers’ claims that it fraudulently paid millions of dollars in grant money to states that should not have received the money because they incarcerated nonviolent juvenile offenders with adults in violation of federal law.

In a six-page letter sent Wednesday to Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, who heads the Office of Justice Programs, Grassley detailed the allegations that the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) had knowingly violated federal law by giving the grants to states that incarcerated runaway youth, foster children and other “vulnerable minors.”

Alexandra Cox

The Perils of False Distinctions Between Juveniles and Adults in Prison

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When we focus criminal justice reforms only on teenagers, we suggest that there is an age at which it is appropriate for an individual to receive an excessively long sentence, and that the effects of that sentence may be more harmful to their dignity and human rights than it would be for an adult.