CHENANGO COUNTY – As proposed legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York State gains traction among lawmakers, probation officers are pushing for clarification in the bill which will ensure that county probation departments will be fully funded by the state in order to meet new requirements if the legislation passes.
Debate over raising the age of criminal responsibility made its way to the forefront following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2015 “Opportunities Agenda” address in January. New York and North Carolina are the only two states in the country where 16 and 17-year-olds can still be prosecuted as adults for non heinous crimes.
Advocates of the bill argue that expectations of youth being rehabilitated in prison and leaving prison in better shape than they were are simply unrealistic.
A state-appointed pannel created in 2014 suggested raising the age of criminal responsibility in NY to 18 (though there are blurry lines when it comes to youth who are convicted of substantially heinous crimes). The change would mean that teens who would have been sent to prison would instead be treated as a juvenile delinquent and placed in a rehabilitation program, sometimes at the county’s expense. It would also mean a bump in cases handled by the county attorney and an increased work load for family courts.
But the financial implications of such legislation are still up in the air, according to Chenango County Probation Director Karen Osborn. If the age of criminal responsibility is raised, the probation department would see a significant increase in case loads, thus an unavoidable increase in local costs.
For the Chenango County Probation Department, it would mean doubling its caseloads, said Osborn. She addressed the matter with the county’s safety and rules committee on Wednesday.
“I have met with other probation officers in Albany and we found that basically, the governor’s commission said probation would need to receive 100 percent funding from the state in order to make this happen,” Osborn said. “But there’s not one word in the legislation that says probation should get 100 percent.”
She added, “We’re not fighting the fact that we think the age needs to be raised. The state just needs to understand that it’s difficult financially.”
In 2013, the Chenango County Department of Probation saw 71 juvenile delinquent intakes for kids up to age 15. Meanwhile, the county justice courts handled 75 arrests on 16 and 17-year-olds. Given the likelihood that the proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility will pass later this year, probation would receive most (if not all) those cases handled by the county justice courts by 2017.
“In Chenango County, most 16 and 17-year-olds are not committing violent crimes, so probation is going to deal with them,” Osborn said. “The only difference is, they will not go sit in jail for a week or two or three, pending their hearing. They will be given an appearance ticket. They’re going to go home and it will be up to probation to decide whether to send the issue to family court or deal with it at the diversion level.”
In addition to handling an increase in caseloads, the county would also be required to hire a new position to oversee diversion programs for probation. However, requirements of that position or how it would be funded are still unclear.
Osborn said the Coalition of Probation Directors is drafting a motion calling on New York State to fund new mandates at 100 percent, and add wording to the legislation to clarify how local probation departments will be funded. The coalition will seek support from county boards when that draft is completed.