NYS Raise the Age law remains in full after new executive budget, as advocates call for protections
by Tandy Lau
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget unveiled on Jan. 20, excluded rollbacks against the state’s Raise the Age law, which prevents the state from prosecuting 16 and 17-year-olds as adults for nonviolent offenses. The Raise the Age Coalition, the 220 organizations supporting the law, commended the governor, who resisted calls by Republican state lawmakers last year to scale back the legislation in her budget.
“We welcome this announcement from Gov. Hochul, and we urge the Administration and the Legislature to leave Raise the Age untouched throughout this session,” wrote the advocates. “Since its implementation, Raise the Age has been a proven success, moving New York away from the dubious distinction of having the lowest age of automatic adult criminal responsibility in the nation — a distinction previously shared only with North Carolina.
“Raise the Age reflects what we know to be true: adolescents are children, and prosecuting and placing them in the adult criminal justice system does not work for young people or make communities safer.”
The news follows a City Hall rally last week calling against any rollbacks to Raise the Age laws, as well as adopting the Youth Justice Innovation Fund to dedicate at least $50 million of the $250 million set aside each year to support Raise the Age towards the youth intervention and treatment services promised when Hochul’s predecessor and former running mate Andrew Cuomo signed the bill in Harlem back in 2017.
“We’ve tried our best to arrest the children that we’ve arrested 20 years ago and that hasn’t worked,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams during the rally. “And it’s not going to work…the things we’ve been talking about are proven. They’re based in data. They’re not pie in the sky, they’re real.
“Everytime we try to do something, they tell us the sky is going to fall open: Black and Brown kids will fall from it and destroy the city. But that has never happened.”
He pointed to how criminal justice reforms often serve as sin-eaters for public safety concerns, even as the city touts falling crime numbers. Raise the Age is just one of many scapegoated laws passed following Kalief Browder’s suicide after he was held on Rikers Island as a minor over ultimately dropped charges for a stolen backpack. Notably, Hochul rolled back bail reform laws in the FY24 budget.
Last month, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice dropped a report finding youth felony recidivism for 16 and 17-year-olds tumbled since Raise the Age went into effect — the legislation activated for 16-year-olds in 2018 and for 17-year-olds in 2019.