Before the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act (JJRA) was passed, the criminal and juvenile laws of North Carolina treated youth who engaged in criminal activity at ages 16 and 17 as adults.
It is this construct that changed on December 1, 2019, when the majority of the JJRA’s provisions took effect. Under the new law, processing of nearly all offenses committed at ages 16 and 17 begins...