By Bob Katzen

The Senate 31-9, approved an amendment that would raise from 17 to 18 the age at which a person can be tried as a juvenile. The hike would apply to many crimes for which 18-year-olds would be tried as juveniles instead of as adults.

The amendment would not change existing law that allows 18-year-olds charged with the most serious offenses, including first- or second-degree murder, to be prosecuted and sentenced as adults. Similarly, a juvenile 18 or younger could be charged as an adult for any felony if the he or she had been previously committed in the Department of Youth Services, committed an offense that involves serious bodily harm or violated certain firearm laws.

“We will never achieve racial equity in Massachusetts without addressing the systemic biases in our systems, including our criminal legal system—and giving our children a fair shot at life from birth onward,” said Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland). “By raising the age today, I am proud that the Senate is making the commonwealth a fairer place for young people who should not be judged for their whole life by a mistake they made as an 18-year-old.”

“As the former Senate Chair of the Joint Task Force on Emerging Adults in the Massachusetts Criminal Justice System, I heard from stakeholders across the juvenile and criminal justice systems about the countless public safety benefits of raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction,” said Sen. Cindy Creem (D-Newton). “Including 18-year-olds in the juvenile system will help ensure all high-schoolers have access to the high-quality rehabilitative programming available through the Department of Youth Services, which will help reduce recidivism and have a long-term positive impact on public safety.”

“This amendment to an Economic Development bill sought to raise the juvenile age of criminal prosecution to 19 years old,” said Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) who opposed the amendment. “First, criminal justice policy shouldn’t be snuck into an economic development bill. Second, the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Trial Court identified numerous concerns about raising the juvenile age … including increased financial costs to the court system; increased delays with justice in the juvenile court, including child welfare and protection cases that are already backlogged by 13,000 cases; and concerns about the mixing of minors and “emerging adults” in a juvenile detention center causing challenges with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act which is supposed to prevent children from being in ‘sight and sound’ contact with adults.“

Fattman continued, [“There are] concerns from numerous law enforcement agencies that raising the juvenile age of criminality emboldens young people to commit crime, as other offenders may use this law to make young people pawns in the dangerous criminal activity in which the older adults engage.

(A “Yes” vote is for raising the age to 18. A “No” vote is against raising it.)

Sen. Patricia Jehlen Yes