Senator Montgomery and the Senate Democratic Conference Implementing Juvenile Justice Reform through “Raise the Age”

The Senate Democratic Conference has led the fight to ‘raise the age’ of adult criminal responsibility so that 16- and 17-year old kids are no longer automatically forced into the adult criminal justice system. Only New York State and North Carolina treat children so harshly, as the rest of the nation has already realized how cruel it is to treat children like adults in the corrections system. We need to end this practice, and not allow halfmeasures or watered-down compromises to keep our children behind bars.

The legislation supported by the Senate Democratic Conference (S.4157/A.4876) has already passed the State Assembly and has the support of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus. This bill, sponsored for over five years by Democratic Senator Velmanette Montgomery, is the only true ‘raise the age’ option, as alternative plans would continue to lock up 16- and 17-year old kids and deny them services designed to help children reform and lead productive lives. 

Activists, advocates and concerned parents all stood with the Senate Democratic Conference as we unveiled our ‘raise the age’ proposal. These advocate organizations created a list of principles that any bill which seeks to ‘raise the age’ must address, and only the Senate Democratic Conference option achieves all of these goals. The principles that determine if legislation would really ‘raise the age’ or not include: