Raise the Age Summit at College of Law Oct. 13

The Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission and the New York State Office for Judicial Initiatives is hosting a Raise the Age Summit on Oct. 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the College of Law’s Dineen Hall.

The program will examine the impact of the Raise the Age legislation on the courts, legal community, youth and community. It will feature panels of stakeholders involved in all areas of juvenile justice and crime prevention, including district attorneys, defense counsels, judges and attorneys for children.

The Raise the Age bill was passed in 2017 and increased the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years of age. New York was previously one of only two states that automatically prosecuted 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.

“These issues concern all of us, including legal professionals and the broader community. Assessing the law at this juncture is timely and requires that we ask important questions to inform our decision making to guide our actions on juvenile justice and juvenile offenders. We must know empirically and experientially if the law is reaching its objectives, and if it applies equitably across racial, ethnic, gender and other diverse backgrounds,” says Professor Paula Johnson, commissioner of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission.

The summit, co-sponsored by the College of Law, will be both in-person and virtual, but all participants must register at this form. The summit is free and open to the public.

The summit features keynote speaker Edwina Richardson-Mendelson, deputy chief administrative judge for Justice Initiatives, New York State Unified Court System; and lunchtime keynote speaker Mae Quinn, associate dean of experiential education and professor of law at Penn State Dickenson School of Law.