Law aimed at trying more North Carolina teens in adult court takes effect

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A North Carolina law that allows more young people accused of serious crimes to be automatically tried in adult court took effect on December 1st.

The 'Raise the Age' amendment now calls for teens, aged 16 and 17, to automatically be tried as adults in superior court if charged with felonies classified as A through E. Previously, 16 and 17-year-olds charged with felonies A through G were sent to Superior Court. The amendment now moves F and G felonies to juvenile court and keeps A through E in superior court. Supporters, including the Orange County District Attorney, believe the amendment would help reduce the court's backlog of cases, as many juvenile cases sent to superior court are referred back to juvenile court.

"For those less serious felonies they can now be still within the juvenile system, which opens them up to more diversion programming than in the adult system," said Paul Smokowski, director of the North Carolina Youth Prevention Center. "Again, you're still prosecuting the most serious offenses. We're talking about a really significant volume of lower-level felonies that this is diverting. Research has already found that those diversion rates are much lower and have a very strong cost-benefit ratio that it reduces the funding needed and helps them reconnect and stay in their communities."

Meanwhile, activist Kerwin Pittman, with Emancipate NC, is against HB 834.

"I think that was a terrible idea. It's going to do more harm than good," said Pittman. "When you take these teens and try them essentially as adults. You're dooming them from the start. There's just no way around it. They don't have the services for rehabilitation like they do in juvenile court."

State lawmakers passed HB 834 in early June. Days later, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the bill. However, about two weeks later lawmakers passed a veto override allowing the bill to become law.

Cooper wrote in his veto message, "I remain concerned that this new law would keep some children from getting the treatment they need while making communities less safe."

The previous removal of automatic prosecution in adult court was seen as a way to help more young people avoid public, lifetime criminal records for one-time mistakes while giving them access to youth-centered resources within the juvenile system, where records aren't public.

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