Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/north-carolina/page/2/)
When coronavirus blazed through Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro, N.C., in mid-April, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) tested everyone. At last count, the prison had 467 positive cases out of 701 men tested.
“We don’t know how many students are casualties of a racist system, in which they are punished for being in their bodies, for being brown and black kids, and we’ve got to do something,” said Fatimah Salleh, mother of two former students at Durham School of the Arts (DSA) in Durham, N.C. “If we are not really aggressive about it, then it will be the way America has always deemed it to be.”
Many states have not yet acted on advocates’ desire for quick release of all minors incarcerated for nonviolent, mostly misdemeanor offenses who are at risk of infection with COVID-19. There is pushback from opposing sides who feel releasing currently locked-up youth poses a safety risk.
With one worried phone call from the mother of a 16-year-old boy, the modern movement that brought raise the age to North Carolina began, drawing legislators, activists, lawyers, parents and kids into a battle that lasted more than 13 years before the state passed its RTA bill in summer 2017.
Just three months after raise the age took effect on Dec. 1 in North Carolina, early numbers seem to reflect a gentle transition from prosecuting 16- and 17-year-olds in the adult system to prosecuting them in the juvenile system.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With Raise the Age taking effect in less than a month, North Carolina is preparing to receive new 16- and 17-year-old offenders into the juvenile system.
The state has not increased its juvenile age since 1919. Revamping juvenile justice has been in discussion since the 1990s, but the legislature sidestepped raising the age. The reform passed two years ago. So what about North Carolina circa 2017 led to the passage of raise the age? Recent research on juvenile crime gave the legislation factual legitimacy, while pressure from being the only state to still prosecute 16- and 16-year-olds as adults gave the bill political momentum.
Some credit goes to former state Chief Justice Mark Martin.
Issues raised by the school-to-prison pipeline in North Carolina can’t be pinpointed to just one factor. But, said Peggy Nicholson of the Southern Coalition...
This is the first in a series of reports investigating the history and development of youth justice in the state.
Within the scope of juvenile justice literature, studies highlight the need for both immediate and long-term reform measures. This is clearly pertinent given the existence of racial disparity in terms of treatment and confinement among youth in the United States. In fact, federal and state-level funding has been provided to address this dilemma during the past 10 to 15 years.
This month marks one year since the passage of Proposition 57, a California ballot measure that prohibited district attorneys from filing charges against youth as young as 14 directly in adult criminal court through a practice known as “direct file.” The initiative passed with 64 percent of the vote, signaling strong popular support for curtailing prosecutorial authority and expanding access to the rehabilitative benefits of the juvenile justice system.