Youth Represent is excited to share our new research in partnership with the Youth Justice Research Collaborative, a collective developed in partnership with the Youth Represent, CUNY Public Science Project, Children’s Defense Fund-NY and the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.
Last week we released a policy brief that brings together hundreds of court observations and analysis of public data to evaluate the implementation of Raise the Age in New York City.
As a lead member of the Raise the Age campaign, Youth Represent played a key role in passing 2017 legislation that ended New York’s practice of automatically charging all 16- and 17- year olds as adults. This new report documents significant successes of Raise the Age legislation in its first year of implementation: fewer arrests, less detention, many cases transferred to Family Court and a concerted effort to avoid criminalizing outcomes while offering beneficial resources and services.
However, public data combined with close observation highlight persistent problems in New York’s youth justice system, including extreme racial disparity and reliance on detention to fill in gaps in housing and services.
From the Court Watchers:
The judge was concerned because it seemed the only options were to remand the young person, which he was hesitant to do because he had no reason to, or have her be homeless.
There are five court officers surrounding the defendant who looks like a child, given his short height and childlike face.
We hope you read the full report as well as the coverage highlighting the perspective of one of the court watchers, and encourage you to check out the YJRC social media accounts (@YJRC_NYC) and website, where you can read our brief of COVID and Youth Justice in NYC, and learn more about our work.
This report was made possible by the generous support of the New York Community Trust, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Tow Foundation, Trinity Church Wall Street, and the Prospect Hill Foundation. Tremendous thanks to them and the entire Youth Justice Reserach Collaborative, especially the court watchers, whose hours of in-court observations add a depth to our understanding of Raise the Age that goes far beyond numbers and statistics.