Rockland County Votes on Criminal Responsibility Age

From Rockland County Legislature: Rockland County Legislators have voted to support a state law that raises the age of criminal responsibility to 18 – a move that would put offenders accused of less serious crimes before Family Court instead of adult Criminal Court.

“This is a law that makes sense,” the resolution’s sponsor, Legislator Aron B. Wieder, said. “Young people can get into trouble for minor offenses, but find themselves in an adult courtroom and maybe with a lifelong criminal record.

“We want the person to be held accountable and to receive the help they need to make sure they do not repeat their mistake or make new – and maybe worse – mistakes,” Wieder said. “By addressing the problems in the appropriate venue, the person, their family and the larger society can be served in a beneficial way.”

New York and North Carolina are the only two states in the nation that mandate that all youths aged 16 and 17 charged with any offense be prosecuted and sentenced in adult Criminal Court.

Legislators voted 9-7 to support a measure that allows those under 18 who are charged with less serious crimes to go before Family Court instead of adult Criminal Court.

The same state law preserves the jurisdiction of the adult courts to try persons aged 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 years-old for juvenile offender, or JO, crimes. In situations where JO crimes can best be handled in Family Court or in a newly created youth part of adult Criminal Court, cases could be moved to those courts.

In New York currently, a person of the age of 16 or 17 does not have a right to call their parent nor does law enforcement have to notify a parent that their child is in custody.

“A kid could go to a party, commit a minor offense and be taken into custody,” Wieder said. “The parent can be waiting all night for them to come home and they never do and they don’t know why or where they are.”

The new law would require such notification.

The law would also prohibit the placement of anyone under age 18 in adult jail or prison.

Research has shown that children’s brains do not fully develop until after the age of 18 and that youths who engage in criminal conduct often do not have the same level of understanding of their actions as adults.

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot impose the death penalty on a person under the age of 18 citing evidence that minors are less mentally culpable for their actions than adults.

Studies have also shown that youths who end up in the adult criminal system are less likely to obtain a high school diploma or to obtain and keep a job and are more likely to earn less and to be recipients of public assistance.

The measure has already passed in the state Assembly. County Legislators, who voted on the measure March 7, are calling upon members of the state Senate to adopt Bill S.4121.

Image Courtesy Of Rockland County Legislature