Category: Juvenile Crime

This summer, our state passed a law stating that juveniles who are 16 and 17 will no longer be automatically charged as adults for misdemeanors and low-level felonies. We were the last state in the entire country to “raise the age” of juveniles in court, so it’s something that is long overdue.

Unfortunately, this law doesn’t fully go into effect until December 2019 – more than two years from now. So in the meantime, 16- and 17-year-olds can still be charged as adults.

Why Did North Carolina Finally Decide to “Raise the Age”?

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When your kid is accused of a crime, your first response may be to worry about the consequences. Will your child go to jail? Will they be able to get into college, or get a good job? Will they be taken away from you?

All kids make mistakes, and North Carolina understands that a mistake made by a minor does not always indicate that they are a dangerous person or intend to lead a life of crime. While minors aged 16 or older who are accused of a criminal offense must go through [...]

“This is happening in silence.”

That’s how Stephanie Francis, the Director of Education Training and Engagement in domestic violence at Interact in Raleigh described our country’s teen dating violence problem to reporters from ABC 11. Recent studies from Interact in Raleigh estimate that one in three adolescents is a victim of some type of violence from someone they share a romantic relationship with. Experts believe that a great many more incidents go unreported.

North Carolina law enforcement officials have turned their attention to teen dating violence crimes after a particularly devestating incident earlier [...]

Common knowledge often suggests that juvenile delinquent records are “wiped clean” when young offenders reach 18 years of age. Unfortunately, for many young men and women, this just isn’t true. Instead, mistakes they made as adolescents follow them well into their adulthood, preventing them from the opportunity to live a life as a normal member of society.

Young people often engage in reckless behavior—it’s literally in their biology. The pleasure-seeking portion of the brain develops in teens long before the self-control portion kicks in. Partially because of this fact, the Juvenile Court system [...]