There’s a movement developing to raise the age at which young N.C. suspects are tried in the adult court. This could be a good move.
As it stands in North Carolina, 16- and 17-year-olds are automatically tried in the adult system rather than in the juvenile system. Their convictions become part of their permanent records and can affect their job and college prospects.
Many of the misdemeanors committed by people that age are matters of poor judgment. But they can bring jail time that exposes impressionable young people to hardened criminals.
In recent years, several bills have been introduced in the legislature to raise the age. Some placed youths in juvenile court for misdemeanors only. Some emphasized that those accused of the most violent felonies would still be tried as adults.
Rep. Marilyn Avila, R-Wake, a primary sponsor of a 2011 House bill, recently told media outlets that a new bill in a House judiciary committee would keep 16- and 17-year-olds in juvenile court for misdemeanors only — all felonies would still be transferred to adult court. The age of jurisdiction would increase in six-month increments annually and eventually reach 18.
Significant support for such a bill has come from both sides of the aisle. As Durham County Chief District Court Judge Marcia Morey put it recently, “It’s not a political issue. It’s doing what’s right for our youth.”
A legislative staff analysis estimates a cost of $9 million in the first year and a further increase in later years. We’d want to see that cost lowered, perhaps through phasing in the changes.
But the same analysts estimated in 2009 that, if the law had changed, about 28,000 16- and 17-year-olds that year would have been sent to juvenile court rather than adult court. As it is, many of those 16- and 17-year-olds from 2009 may well have gone on to harder crimes.
Some may end up costing society a lot of money in prison costs for the rest of their lives, instead of working hard and paying taxes.