RALEIGH -- Recent state statistics show that the juvenile crime rate in North Carolina has dropped 11 percent since 2008. Ensuring that 16- and 17-year-old juvenile offenders are handled in the juvenile justice system - rather than in the adult system - would likely drop the crime rate even lower.
North Carolina is one of only two states that continue to prosecute all 16- and 17-year-olds in the adult criminal justice system. There is a misperception that putting minors in the adult system is being tough on crime. But 48 other states have decided that public safety is better served when minors are sent to the juvenile justice system.
The juvenile system actually assigns stricter punishments than the adult system for most young offenders, as members of law enforcement will acknowledge.
Statistics show that North Carolina's current policy of handling all 16- and 17-year-olds in the adult system is a public safety risk: Youths who go through the adult system are more likely to go on to commit more crime than youths who receive treatment and punishment in the juvenile justice system.
A 2007 N.C. Sentencing Commission study of youthful offenders revealed that 16- and 17-year-old offenders sentenced either to adult probation or adult prison had higher re-arrest rates than the entire sample of youthful offenders ages 13 to 21. The commission also found that youths who serve adult time are more than twice as likely to be reconvicted of crimes as those who receive treatment, rehabilitative services and punishment in the juvenile system.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that youths who go through the adult system are re-arrested, reconvicted and have their probation revoked at higher rates than other adult offenders, thereby decreasing public safety.
The fact is, the vast majority of young offenders commit minor crimes. In the adult system, that means probation - a slap on the wrist - but in the juvenile justice system, young people get no right to pre-trial release or bond, have to have a parent or guardian involved and must attend school or get a GED. They have frequent contact with court counselors, they report regularly for rehabilitative services and they often receive court-ordered therapies. Youths with mental health and/or substance-abuse needs receive intensive treatment services.
The adult criminal justice system does not provide the structure young offenders need to turn their lives around. When minors are arrested in the adult system, their parents need not be notified, and they can make bail and leave the county jail on their own recognizance. There are no education requirements, and therapeutic services are not required - indeed they are often not even available.
Seventy-five percent of 16- and 17-year-olds who go through the adult system receive probation, because their crimes are minor. They must perform minimal community restitution, and they have little contact with probation officers.
When offending youth are brought before a juvenile court judge and their parents, and are forced to take responsibility for their actions, pay restitution, attend court-ordered services, go to school and have their mental health and substance-abuse issues addressed, there's a much bigger chance that they're going to get back on track. The adult system doesn't require any of this, so youths can walk out of adult court thinking, "No big deal."
It is time for North Carolina policymakers to follow the evidence - and the lead of 48 other states - and raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction from 16 to 18. The few youths who commit serious crimes would still be sent to the adult system, but the vast majority - those youths who commit minor offenses - would be handled in a system designed to treat the causes of their behavior and punish them appropriately.
In addition to improving public safety, treating and rehabilitating more young offenders means fewer prisons down the line. That's something we can all get behind.
