RALEIGH — Right now, under North Carolina criminal law you stop being a juvenile once you turn 16-years-old. So if you commit a crime at that age, you are treated as an adult.
But the man who runs the National Center for Juvenile Justice Reform said putting teens in adult prison is bad policy.
“When you treat, wholesale treat 16- and 17-year-old as adult offenders, you end up with higher rates of recidivism, faster recidivism, and recidivism for more serious crime,” says Shay Bilchik.
New York and North Carolina are the only two states that treat non-violent 16- and 17-year-old criminals as adults. Bilchik says they would be better suited left in the juvenile justice system.
“There is better assessment done of youth in the juvenile system than what happens in the adult system,” he said. “There is a better matching to the kind of programs they might need to stop their criminal behavior.”
A bill sits in the legislature to change this. The proposal would incrementally raise the age from 16 to 18 for delinquent juveniles. Law enforcement officials said this is a double standard.
“The list goes on and on for those things that our society, our legislature and others have decided you are old enough to make the decision when you are 16,” said Eddie Caldwell, with the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association.
Caldwell said there are other reasons to keep the current law.
“If your relative is assaulted, broken in to your residence, if they are killed, you’re just as injured if your perpetrator is 16 or 17 or older,” he said.
Estimates show it would cost $120 million a year more to support the influx of offenders in the juvenile system.
But advocates for change said the costs could be justified.
“Bringing in 16 or 17 years, yes, will bring an increase in costs,” says Brandy Bynum, with Action for Children NC. “But over the long term, in the life of these 16- or 17-year-olds, that’s as a society, we will benefit by avoiding those kids in the adult criminal justice system.”