T he time has come for North Carolina lawmakers to raise the age at which the state begins treating criminal offenders as adults.
Currently, N.C. and New York are the only states that prosecute 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in their criminal justice systems .
Youth who go through adult systems are more often rearrested, convicted, incarcerated and have their probation revoked at higher rates than other adult offenders. Many proponents of the policy change say it will save millions for taxpayers by reducing recidivism and the costs associated with convicting and housing these offenders .
But by far the most pressing and compelling reason is that North Carolina should no longer take responsibility for putting 16- and 17-year-olds at risk of sexual assault in adult jails or prisons.
The N.C. American Civil Liberties Union sent letters Wendesday to sheriff’s departments that failed to produce documents indicating whether they comply with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, which mandates jails and detention centers house 16- and 17-year-olds separately from the rest of the adult population .
Two bills from the 2011-12 session of the General Assembly would raise the age for such offenders; House Bill 632 and Senate Bill 506 , which have garnered bipartisan support.
Efforts to make this change have failed time and again, largely due to budgetary concerns, asserting that simply making 16- and 17-year-olds culpable in juvenile courts would add greater caseloads for juvenile caseworkers.
While such ideology is great for campaign platforms or economic measures, it renders legislators ineffective when resolutions are needed to protect our state youth. North Carolina must put aside such concerns for fiscal responsibility in this same spirit.
