Local politicians are spreading the word about their dislike for a bill that would decriminalize most acts from people under the age of 18.

“As currently drafted, this legislation calls for a dramatic and unprecedented shift in the Criminal Justice System with far reaching repercussions, the least of which will be a significant shifting of costs to county taxpayers,” Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright said in an email to the media.

Inside Gov. Cuomo’s 2017 budget is a provision to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18. According the Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler, the state Assembly wants to send all the cases of crimes, including serious felonies, committed by people 16 to 18 years of age into Family Court, where there will be no convictions.

“There will be minimal, if any punishment, and very limited (if any) public access to or knowledge of the proceedings,” Hoovler wrote on Facebook. “Victims have no rights in family court. It is almost the same as decriminalizing acts committed by 16 and 17 year olds in our state. Is that how we want to deal with murderers, rapists, home invasion burglars, armed robbers, violent drug dealers, and young gang members who possess weapons?”

Hoovler encourages everyone who is against the “Raise The Age” bill to contact your local politicians or the Governor.

According to the Raise the Age NY, the state currently doesn’t recognize “what research and science have confirmed, – adolescents are children, and prosecuting and placing them in the adult criminal justice system doesn’t work for them and doesn’t work for public safety.”

New York and North Carolina are the only two states that prosecutes youths as adults after they turn 16.

“We’ve seen it just over the border in Connecticut,” Rockland state Senator David Carlucci said to CBS. “They raised the age of criminal responsibility, now they are talking about proposals of going higher than 18 and taking it to 21 because their data has been so successful.”

The “Raise The Age” bill was approved in the Assembly by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in February.

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