The Children's Defense Fund - New York is engaged in a multi-year, broad scale effort to transform the current New York juvenile justice system from one that relies on incarceration as the primary response to one where community-based intervention and treatment programs are so prevalent that society considers these programs to be the norm rather than as an "alternative" for young people who come in conflict with the law. New York is at a critical moment in which there is both the urgent need for change in order to guarantee better outcomes for our youth and the opportunity to accomplish meaningful reforms. With the momentum of the Governor's Task Force report and the U.S. Department of Justice report, and the leadership at the state and city level, we must take action now.

Raising New York’s Age of Criminal Responsibility

As reforms in New York's state and local juvenile justice systems progress, the Children's Defense Fund – New York (CDF-NY) remains mindful that there are thousands of court-involved youth who have not benefitted from the reform climate because they are automatically sent to the adult system. Since Connecticut changed its age of criminal responsibility to 18 in 2008, New York and North Carolina remain the only two states in the entire country that still automatically try 16-year-olds as adults.

For more information on the consequences of charging adolescents as adults and policy comparisons with New York’s neighbor states click here.

February 11, 2012 Youth are Youth: “Juvies” Film Screening

Join the Children’s Defense Fund-NY and the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives (IJJRA) on Saturday, February 11th in the Bronx and learn more about the campaign to the raise the age in New York. The event will consist of a faith and community leader teach-in and film screening. 

For more information, click here.

Click to read our recent testimony to the New York City Council:

Links

• Children’s Defense Fund, America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline Report
• Missouri Youth Services Institute (MYSI)
• Community Justice Network for Youth