New York Governor Kathy Hochul has sidestepped a contentious issue surrounding her state's youth criminal justice law, opting to maintain its key elements in her latest budget proposal. The move came after sustained lobbying from prosecutors, police and law enforcement groups had hinted at the possibility of changes that could result in more teenagers being charged as adults.
Critics had argued that such shifts would undermine the landmark Raise the Age law, which was enacted in 2017 to automatically transfer juvenile offenders from adult courts to family court. Advocates point to data showing a decline in youth crime rates since its passage and argue that further funding for community-based programs, counseling and wraparound services could lead to even more significant reductions.
Hochul's decision has avoided a potential fight with fellow Democrats in the state Legislature, which had signaled their support for the law in its current form. The governor cited her success in scaling back other criminal justice reforms in past budgets as the reason for not revisiting the Raise the Age law this year.
However, not all are pleased with Hochul's stance. Rensselaer County District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly criticized the governor's claim that necessary reform had already been achieved, stating her organization is pushing for targeted revisions to the law, including more juvenile gun possession cases being sent to family court and improved access to sealed family court case records.
As the November election approaches, advocates are concerned that threats to the Raise the Age law could re-emerge. Messiah Ramkissoon of the Youth Justice Network warned, "We're still in 2026 having a conversation about whether children should be locked up with adults and whether resources that were promised to them should be allotted."
Critics had argued that such shifts would undermine the landmark Raise the Age law, which was enacted in 2017 to automatically transfer juvenile offenders from adult courts to family court. Advocates point to data showing a decline in youth crime rates since its passage and argue that further funding for community-based programs, counseling and wraparound services could lead to even more significant reductions.
Hochul's decision has avoided a potential fight with fellow Democrats in the state Legislature, which had signaled their support for the law in its current form. The governor cited her success in scaling back other criminal justice reforms in past budgets as the reason for not revisiting the Raise the Age law this year.
However, not all are pleased with Hochul's stance. Rensselaer County District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly criticized the governor's claim that necessary reform had already been achieved, stating her organization is pushing for targeted revisions to the law, including more juvenile gun possession cases being sent to family court and improved access to sealed family court case records.
As the November election approaches, advocates are concerned that threats to the Raise the Age law could re-emerge. Messiah Ramkissoon of the Youth Justice Network warned, "We're still in 2026 having a conversation about whether children should be locked up with adults and whether resources that were promised to them should be allotted."
I was really hoping Kathy Hochul would make some changes to this law... I mean, it's been like 8 years since Raise the Age went into effect and crime rates have actually gone down 
. It's not like the law is perfect or anything but at least we're seeing progress in other areas of justice reform 
. Now I'm worried that without some changes to this law, we'll just be going through the same conversation again soon 
. And what about all those community programs and services that were supposed to come with increased funding? 
Did Hochul's budget even touch on that?
. I mean, we just got this amazing Raise the Age law in place and now she's trying to backtrack? It's like, what's the point of even having a law if you're not gonna enforce it properly? 
The fact that Hochul is just ignoring all the data and stats showing a decline in youth crime rates since 2017 is pretty sad 
. i mean, we know youth crime rates have been declining since the Raise the Age law passed in 2017, so what's the harm in making some tweaks? 
Don't get me wrong, community-based programs & counseling are super important too, but sometimes you gotta think about the bigger picture here... and from what i've read, there's already a push for targeted revisions to the law 
. I just hope these conversations don't get lost in the election noise 
They should be investing in actual programs and services for these kids instead of just throwing some money at the problem. 
And what's up with the DA not wanting to budge? Can't she see that keeping it under wraps is the real issue here? 
Instead of, you know, fighting over it? I mean, we've made some progress since 2017 and data shows that community-based programs are working! Why not build on that instead of going back to the old ways? Maybe there's a happy medium somewhere in between, right? 
