7 Alb. Govt. L. Rev. 220 (2014)
Jellisa Joseph
New York State is one of only two states in the country that
classifies sixteen-year-olds as adults in the eyes of the court
system, an embarrassing distinction that the Office of Court
Administration and the New York State Legislature are eager to
change. The Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals has
introduced a proposal that would create a special court for sixteen
and seventeen-year-old nonviolent offenders—in a move that
would eventually raise the age of criminal liability in New York
to eighteen years old. The proposed measure, the Youth Court
Act, essentially blends the essential Due Process protections of
the criminal court system with that of the family court system.
The proceedings would seamlessly blend the procedural
safeguards evident in the criminal system with the rehabilitative
elements of family court; with the ultimate goal being a complete
shift to family court. In addition to the Court of Appeals, the
State Legislature has been working on enacting a bill that would
amend the Criminal Procedure Law, the Executive Law, the
Family Court Act, and the Penal Law to raise the age of criminal
responsibility for certain acts to eighteen. This bill, drafted by
the legislature, would go much further and, for various reasons, is
not a feasible option.
The first section of this paper will discuss the evolution of the
juvenile justice system in New York. The second section will
analyze various reasons for decreasing the criminal responsibility
of sixteen and seventeen-year-olds. The third section will
examine the proposal set forth by the Court of Appeals, a similar
bill currently before the State Legislature, the differences
between the two, and the roadblocks that both have faced.