{"id":311,"date":"2017-04-13T09:57:53","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T13:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?p=311"},"modified":"2017-04-18T09:27:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T13:27:04","slug":"lawmakers-move-to-save-nyc-youth-by-raising-the-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/lawmakers-move-to-save-nyc-youth-by-raising-the-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Move to Save NYC Youth by ‘Raising the Age’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Original Media Source: NYC Newswire<\/a><\/div>\n
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In response to the Senate passing of Raise the Age legislation in New York, Jennifer March, Executive Director of Citizens\u2019 Committee for Children-New York; Naomi Post, Executive Director of the Children\u2019s Defense Fund-New York and Paige Pierce, CEO of Families Together in New York State<\/b> released the following statement on behalf of the Raise the Age NY campaign:<\/div>\n
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Thanks to this \u201cRaise the Age\u201d legislation, tens of thousands of New York\u2019s youth who make a mistake will be treated in an age-appropriate manner, offering them an opportunity to turn their lives around.\u00a0 While no legislation is perfect, we applaud Governor Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Heastie and members of the Assembly, the Senate Majority, Minority and Independent Democratic Caucus, and the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus for passing this smart-on-crime legislation. We will keep working with our elected officials to make sure that New York does right by the rest of our youth and heeds the scientific research that shows the juvenile system works best for teenagers and our communities.\u00a0 This victory is due in large part to the formerly incarcerated youth and their families, faith leaders, members of the legal community, direct service providers, and advocates who made their voices heard for many years.<\/div>\n
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For more information about the Raise the Age campaign, visit www.raisetheageny.com<\/a> and follow the campaign on social media using the hashtag #RaisetheAgeNY<\/div>\n
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About the Raise the Age NY campaign:<\/u><\/b><\/div>\n
Raise the Age NY is a public awareness campaign that includes national and local advocates, youth, parents, law enforcement and legal representative groups, faith leaders, and unions that have come together to increase public awareness of the need to implement a comprehensive approach to raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York State so that the legal process responds to all children as children and provides services and placement options that better meet the rehabilitative needs of all children and youth.<\/div>\n
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New York is one of only two states in the country (the other is North Carolina) that have failed to recognize what research and science have confirmed \u2013 adolescents are children, and prosecuting and placing them in the adult criminal justice system doesn\u2019t work for them and doesn\u2019t work for public safety.<\/div>\n
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Children who are prosecuted as adults are more likely to continue committing crimes in the future. Children who are treated as children are more likely to stay out of jail, and out of the justice system:<\/div>\n
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