Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Much discussion continues to be had with regards to changes, or lack thereof, in the criminal justice system in New York State, in particular, the Raise the Age law that took effect in 2019.
This debate has been sparked with the recent increase in crime rates, particularly car thefts, among adolescent offenders under the age of 18 across the region. This includes the deadly single-car crash on the ramp from Route 33 to Route 198 back in late October, as well as the recent attempted murder of Cheektowaga Police Officer Troy Blackchief, as he was responding to a stolen vehicle report back in early February.
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Erie County District Attorney John Flynn believes part of the reason for the increase of car thefts across the region is because kids now-a-days have no fear of consequences at the hands of the law.
"What you have going on are groups of kids who are going out across the community, mainly in the city and first ring suburbs of Erie County, and are going out in groups. They're going out three, four or five at a time, and they're stealing cars and joy riding at 4 or 5, 6 in the morning," said Flynn on Monday during an appearance on WBEN. "We saw that with the horrific accident that happened on the 33 a few months ago, four people lost their lives. Then we saw it also in Cheekotwaga back in February, where we believe were five kids who went out that evening and we're stealing cars. At one point, we believe that all five had five different cars, and were kind of driving around. They'd drive around, and then they abandoned them, and then they go back out again and keep doing it.
"There's no accountability in the system, and that's due to, in my opinion, the Raise the Age law that was passed back in 2019."
It was back on April 10, 2017 when New York raised the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years of age, ensuring that young people in the state who commit non-violent crimes receive the intervention and evidence-based treatment they need. Then it was in October of 2019 where New York would no longer automatically prosecute 16- and 17-year-olds as adults under the Raise the Age law guidelines.
New York was actually one of the last states in the U.S. to issue a Raise the Age law, as before, 16- and 17-year-olds could be automatically treated as adults. Now, the state is in line with the rest of the nation, where 16- and 17-year-olds are treated as minors.
However, as part of the state budget that was announced back in late April, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced changes to bail reform and other measures that allowed people to consider different crimes, and factor in the severity and whether there's harm committed to other individuals.
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While nothing was changed with regards to the Raise the Age law currently in place, Gov. Hochul says her administration continues to evaluate all the reforms put in place before she became Governor in August of 2021, with Raise the Age being is one of them.
"We just made some substantial changes to our bail laws to give judges more discretion to look at a situation and say, 'Is this an individual who's likely to do harm to others, and should they really be out in the streets or back incarcerated?' So there's a lot to look at in the overall continuum of criminal justice reforms," said Gov. Hochul on Monday while on a visit to Buffalo.
When it comes to the bail laws that were recently changed with the announcement of the state budget, Flynn says they will help with the younger age group if something bad happens, like in Cheektowaga, where someone gets injured or someone gets hurt. However, that will not be the case if it pertains to someone simply stealing a car and going for a joyride. He points to a flaw in the Family Court system of New York State.
"If it's just a typical driving around and stealing a car, these are lower level felonies, some of them aren't even qualified on a bail list at all," Flynn explained. "In my opinion, the bail is not the answer here. The problem here is the Raise the Age law, and it's a mentality that goes on in Family Court. The mentality is every kid has an issue, every kid needs some service. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully on the program with kids are kids, and some kids need help, some kids need services. But there's also that kid who's just a bad kid, and who needs some punishment and some accountability."
"The Raise the Age has changed the standards for the age of a young person. As the District Attorney said, in this case, if he was 18, it would be a different matter. He was gonna be 18 in a couple of days, I guess, but at the time of the crime he was 17," said former State Supreme Court Judge, and current host of "On Target", Penny Wolfgang. "The Raise the Age and the Youth Court standards apply, so the bail was set, it had to be set at three different kinds of bail, and still the least restrictive bail. And still, even though the District Attorney asked for remand, the court set various kinds of bail, which are required by the law now."
In the case surrounding Officer Blackchief in Cheektowaga, bail was set for the 17-year-old charged with nine felonies (including one count of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree) at $80,000. While Flynn believes that is an injustice to the system, Wolfgang says it is the determination by the court based on factors of what bail has been set for similar cases in the past.
"I think the determination, and because it's so low, is because this is the age of the defendant, and that is being treated in this treatment-type court, which is pretty new, Youth Court," Wolfgang said. "If this was an Erie County Court felony, I think that the bail would have either been remand or certainly a lot higher than that. And also, again, the law does not permit a charge of, what we're calling, a minor with First Degree Attempted Murder, which probably would be the charge if we were in county or felony court other than this Youth Court."
Flynn went on to add he believes the Raise the Age law went too far, and it has overprotected those under the age of 18 from being charged as an adult in a serious crime. Wolfgang agrees with the Erie County District Attorney, saying the justice system's hands are tied in the matter because of the Raise the Age law.
"It's just a continuation of these laws that are being passed that have very little consequences for the defendants, very little fear of what's going to happen, very little returns, and basically very little consideration for victims of crimes," Wolfgang said with Brian Mazurowski and Susan Rose during an appearance on WBEN. "This is the worst example, of course, what happened to Lieutenant Blackchief, but still the stolen cars itself, the issue of these repetitive actions by young people that have no consequences to them, but have serious consequences to people who are the victims whose cars are stolen, who have no way to get to work, who have to pay money to get them fixed. You can't take your children to school, and this small group young people who think this is a prank, or have continuously engaged in this behavior, with no deterrence and no accountability under the law."
What is perplexing, in some cases, is the evidence of adolescent offenders committing these car thefts and other crimes are available for the world to see on social media. Flynn calls that activity "brazen", but, once again, calls out the Family Court system as being "a revolving door".
"I know I've talked about it before, but when you have an individual who was under the age of 18-years-old, there are two paths for them: It's either the path going to Family Court, or it's the path going to the Youth Part of my court, which is Adult Court. It's kind of an oxymoron - Youth Part in Adult Court - but that's really how it is," he said. "If I can keep them in Adult Court, even though it's Youth Part, there's gonna be some consequences. But the only crimes that qualify to stick with me for a 16- and 17-year-old are if someone gets killed, someone gets seriously injured, or someone commits a sexual offense. That's it. Anything else, I lose and it's going to Family Court. And when it goes to Family Court, there's no accountability, there is no punishment. There is no mindset that, 'Hey, this kid's a bad kid. We need to teach this kid a lesson, and we need to show that this is unacceptable.'"
As for the new bail reform that was changed by Gov. Hochul as part of the state budget going forward, Flynn says it will not change anything at all, even if a 16- or 17-year-old is arrested multiple times for crimes such as stealing a car.
"It's going to change some things, to be fair. I do believe it's going to change things, but it's going to change things for the adults who commit the violent, serious crimes. ... It's not going to change anything when it comes to 16- and 17-year-olds, again, unless, God forbid, they do something where they kill someone or they shoot someone, or they get involved in a car accident here like in Cheektowaga where they allegedly, in my opinion, intentionally run over the police officer. In that regard, it will have some effect," Flynn said. "But for 99% of the 16- and 17-year-old cases, they're two different laws, and it's not going to have any effect at all."
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