Throughout the United States Americans are striving to guarantee that healthcare is affordable and accessible. Within the state of North Carolina there is a strong focus on healthcare reform. The state has hundreds of medical facilities and programs devoted to improving the health of the state's residents.
North Carolina for several years has been trying to identify what it should be required to do in preparing children, especially poor children, to take full advantage of public school. There are strong legal arguments in favor of pre-kindergarten programs.
But however the state constitution and the tangled history of the landmark Leandro school opportunities case are sliced and diced, it couldn’t be clearer that pre-K ought to be made widely available as a matter of good public policy.
Putting a shiny label on a piece of legislation doesn’t guarantee that its contents are as advertised. Before the Honorables vote to make dramatic changes to our public schools, the politically named “Excellent Public Schools Act” needs thorough scrutiny and a lot of input from the people who would be most affected.
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.
Letter from members of The Children's Alliance to members of House Judiciary Subcommittee A Members:
As advocates for children in Mecklenburg County, we strongly support SB434 to raise the juvenile age from 16 to 18 for youth who commit misdemeanors.
The proposed House budget restores some funding for key child programs that were cut last year, though not nearly to the level of the Governor’s proposed budget, which focused heavily on public education investments. There are also, however, some concerning cuts to children’s programs in the House budget, and places where badly needed funds cut last year were not restored.
North Carolina accompanies New York as one of two states that still automatically prosecute all 16 and 17-year-olds in the adult court system, without regard to the type of crime the teen is charged with. A bill in the N.C. legislature is hoping to change the law so no one under 18 could be prosecuted as an adult for nonviolent misdemeanors.
Few people believe that school-age teens possess the judgment to vote or to drink alcohol, yet we allow children as young as 13 – and in some cases, younger – to be tried as adults in some cases. A bill introduced with bipartisan support in the N.C. House and Senate would change how we treat our youngest offenders. The Honorables should approve it.
North Carolina is one of only two states that automatically try 16-year-olds as adults in all criminal cases. New York is the other.
RALEIGH, N.C. - The state House Judiciary Committee today will hear testimony about proposed legislation to raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction.
North Carolina is one of only two states which automatically prosecute 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for misdemeanors as minor as stealing a can of soda. Child advocates acknowledge that such crimes should be recognized by the judicial system, but many are pushing for the Legislature to pass SB 434, which prosecutes teen-agers as juveniles in misdemeanor cases.
From the patter in Raleigh, you could get the idea that reformers want to rig the criminal justice system so that no one under age 18 is ever tried as an adult. Not even close.
Under existing law, children as young as 13 may be tried in adult court if a judge approves; and that wouldn't change under the proposed revision to last year's bipartisan overhaul.
