As a mother, I care about my children above all else. I devote nearly every hour and all of my prayers to helping them build strong character and a bright future. I know they’ll make mistakes, and I welcome the opportunity to help them learn from those missteps, pay their dues and move on to better things.
As a mother, I know children are our future. And that is why I urge North Carolina’s legislators to change a law that does nothing but hold back thousands of our kids.
North Carolina remains one of only two states that automatically prosecute all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults — for something as minor as stealing a candy bar. This outdated system leads to exactly what we don’t want: kids’ lives damaged by a permanent adult record and the experience of being exposed to the influence of seasoned adult criminals.
My daughter is among those children whose prospects have been put in jeopardy by this law. At age 17, Cydney was arrested and charged as an adult at the age of 16 for the kind of schoolyard scuffle so many kids get into. If Cydney lived in a state other than North Carolina or New York, this minor charge would have immediately gone to juvenile court. There would have been strict and appropriate consequences (such as tight supervision and restitution) but none that would brand her for life as an “adult” offender.
But because Cydney is a teen in North Carolina, her life and future prospects flew into unnecessary chaos. Once an enthusiastic student, her experience in adult custody left her disheartened. She felt cast out — a sentiment that only deepened when she began to look at going to college, something that would benefit not only her but society in general.
What college, she worried, would want a student with an adult record, even if just for a run-of-the-mill offense that kids from other states wouldn’t have to note at all? Each day it seemed, Cydney faced new doubts and challenges — all of them needless and counter-productive.
Common-sense legislation before our General Assembly this spring would “Raise the Age” of youth jurisdiction, so that 16- and 17-year olds such as Cydney who commit low-level offenses are handled in the juvenile-justice system. There, they would learn their lesson, pay their dues and eventually be able to get on with leading productive lives and contributing to society. Meantime, kids convicted of more serious crimes would remain in the adult system.
Raise the Age would do away with what former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice and Republican candidate for governor Robert F. Orr has called the “destructive, one-size-fits-all punishment” system we have now. It’s also an extremely expensive system.
Most state officials and legislators understand that the repetitious costs of incarcerating 16- and 17-year olds in adult correctional facilities is far more pricey in the long term than providing them with age-appropriate services, treatment and punishment near their home communities. A study by the North Carolina Youth Accountability Planning Task Force last year found that the state could avoid spending $50 million a year by Raising the Age, based on lower recidivism rates and fewer youth with an adult criminal record.
But while the practical arguments for Raising the Age are strong, I’d like again to speak from a mother’s heart. During Cydney’s darkest days, I stood by her. She did the hard work of paying for her mistake and pulling herself back up by her bootstraps, but she had a full and loving family around her.
What about those kids who don’t have a tight-knit family to help them overcome the burden of an adult record? Many probably have strong potential to grow into productive adults, raising families and benefiting society through careers. Yet our state is nearly alone in clinging to a system that undercuts these kids and, in doing so, hurts us all.
As a mother, I urge the General Assembly to put our future ahead of a flawed status quo. Let’s join 48 other states and Raise the Age.