Four of Brooklyn’s five congress members, yesterday, signed onto Governor Andrew Cuomo’s ‘Raise the Age’ campaign and legislative proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 years of age and remove all minors from adult prisons and jails.
New York is one of two states nationwide that puts 16- and 17-year-olds accused and/or convicted of a crime in the general adult prison populations.
“Raising the Age is key to both improving public safety and helping at-risk teenagers build safe and successful futures,” said Cuomo. “Without this reform, hundreds of young people each year will continue to be placed in adult prisons, where they face abuse and limited opportunities to rebuild their lives – which makes it more likely that they will commit criminal activity in the future. This is a common-sense proposal that will make our justice system stronger and fairer for all, and I am urging the state Legislature to stand with us and make it a reality this year.”
Among those supporting the measure are Brooklyn Congress members Jerrold Nadler, Yvette Clarke, Hakeem Jeffries and Nydia Velazquez.
“It is shocking that New York remains one of only two states in the nation to incarcerate 16- and 17-year old adolescents as adults,” said Jeffries. “This approach is wrong-headed, outdated, wasteful and fundamentally unfair. The Governor’s Raise the Age proposal is a tremendous step in the right direction, and passage would be a significant criminal justice reform.”
“The Raise the Age campaign is designed to reduce crime, recidivism, and costs to the state. When we process minors as adults and incarcerate them with adults in local jails and adult prisons, they are more likely to commit more crime,” said Nadler.
“For decades, the State of New York has attempted to impose retribution on young men and young women who have legal issues, without any effort to rehabilitate these individuals,” said Clarke. The results have been a tragedy, with the lives of many young people ruined because the government failed to provide them with the resources that would allow allowed them to develop their talents and become full participants in our civil society.”
