Kids in court: Bills would pull 6- to 9-year-olds from NC juvenile justice proceedings
State lawmakers are considering two bills that would raise the age that children can be brought to court in North Carolina from 6 to 10 years old.
The Senate unanimously passed one bill Thursday.
“A kid who still believes in the Tooth Fairy does not belong in court,” said bill sponsor Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican and criminal defense attorney.
“What we’re doing currently is taking children who are 6, 7, 8, 9 years old and running them through a court process they don’t really understand,” he said.
The bills follow some advocates saying children that age don’t have the mental capacity to understand the juvenile justice process and its consequences. They can’t make informed decisions, like whether to talk to police and what to tell them, whether to go to trial and whether to admit to the accusations against them, which are called complaints, The News & Observer reported.
Advocates for raising the age for juvenile proceedings include Gov. Roy Cooper’s Task Force on Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, which recommends the age be raised to 12. A subcommittee of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, established by the state legislature, recommends 10. The National Juvenile Justice Network recommends 14.
William Lassiter, deputy secretary of North Carolina’s Juvenile Justice section, said he supports raising the age to 10 and having competency evaluations for 11- and 12-year-olds.
How the system works now: Criminal complaints can be filed against children ages 6 to 17 years old.
After a complaint is filed, juvenile court counselors determine whether the complaint should be dismissed, go to juvenile court or deferred if the youth participates in a community program, social services and completes other promised action.
If a case goes to court and a juvenile is found guilty, dispositions can include a referral to social services or probation, community service or commitment to a private or state facility.
How the Senate Bill would change the process: Senate bill 207 would pull children ages 6 to 9 from going before a judge.
Instead, if a complaint is made against a child that age, a court counselor would determine whether it should be dismissed, diverted or accepted as a “child consultation.” Under the child consultation, court counselors would work with the parent, social services, school officials and others to consider what services the child and the child’s family need.
If the family doesn’t comply with the prescribed plan, parents or guardians could be summoned to court and face contempt charges.
Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed, a co-sponsor of the Senate bill and a public defender, said he started his legal career representing children in the system. The Mecklenburg County Democrat saw that many ended up “going (from) group home to group home, placement to placement, too frequently being pushed out of our classrooms” and into jail or prison.
The bill would also make numerous changes to the juvenile justice system for older teens, as part of the recent “Raise The Age” push letting 16- and 17-year-olds be prosecuted as juveniles for most offenses.
In addition to being the only state to subject such young children to juvenile proceedings, North Carolina was also until recently the only state in the country to automatically charge every 16- and 17-year-old accused of a crime as an adult, no matter what.
House Bill 261: This is a similar bill with sponsors led by Rep. Marcia Morey, a Durham County Democrat. It also would raise the juvenile justice minimum age from 6 to 10.
It does not currently spell out how the process would change or have all the broader changes the Senate bill has. Morey said she plans to add a child consultation process, but with families who aren’t complying being sent to the local Department of Social Services.
The House bill is scheduled to be heard in the House Families, Children and Aging Policy Committee Wednesday.
The bill also calls for prohibiting physical restraints on juveniles under 10 during transport for medical or psychiatric evaluations, except for safety reasons. That part of the bill would be implemented four years after the bill became law.
Morey said she is hopeful that the minimum age will be raised to 10.
“I have not heard one person criticize the idea that 6-,7-, 9-year-olds should not be sitting in a delinquency court,” she said.
Future bills may call for some children who are older than 9 to be evaluated for competency before going through the Juvenile Justice system, she added.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Kids in court: Bills would pull 6- to 9-year-olds from NC juvenile justice proceedings."
