Juvenile Justice System Impacts in the First Year of Raise the Age

The Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act (JJRA), which raised the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include youth who commit offenses at ages 16 and 17, went into effect on December 1, 2019. What impacts have been realized in the juvenile justice system as a result? The Juvenile Jurisdiction Advisory Committee (JJAC), created by the JJRA, submitted its required interim report to the General Assembly on January 15, 2021. The report provides many details about the first year of implementation as well as JJAC recommendations for legislative amendments and ongoing budgetary needs. This blog provides a summary of some of the trends during the first year of raise the age implementation as detailed in the report. Juvenile Justice System Volume The juvenile justice system realized a 38% increase in complaints received during the first year of raise the age implementation. 12,349 delinquency complaints were received for 4,107 youth who were alleged to have committed offenses at ages 16 and 17. These youth are referred to in the report as “Raise the Age Youth.” One of the most significant impacts of shifting these cases from criminal court to juvenile court is the use of the juvenile intake process. Pursuant to Article 17 of Chapter 7B of the General Statutes, juvenile complaints are first screened by juvenile court counselors. Most juvenile complaints can be either closed, diverted, or moved to court through the filing of a petition based on the intake process. See G.S. 7B-1701 for the list of offenses that must proceed to [...]