New York's violence against teenagers is surging.
The city's victims of shootings and violent incidents have also been getting increasingly younger.
There has been an alarming increase in juvenile violence in New York State, including several terrifying school shootings.
Victims include young adults, teenagers below 18, and even young children.
New York's violence against teenagers
Teen violence continues to spiral out of control, yet the city's government refuses to address one of its key contributors, the 2017 Raise the Age law, according to the New York Post.
The law prevents anyone under 18 from being prosecuted, like an adult, on a criminal charge.
Before the law was passed, teenagers ages 16 and 17 could face criminal charges just like adults. However, the new policy now sends perpetrators to family court, where they barely face the consequences.
Mayor Eric Adams stated that the rise in the number of crimes committed by young people is because gangs frequently recruit younger members to serve as shooters since they know that if caught, these individuals will be treated more leniently.
As a result, the number of shooters under 18 has more than doubled over the last three years, going from 48 in 2019 to 124 in 2022.
In addition, the number of young people wounded by gunshots increased at a comparable pace, going from 64 to 153.
Increasing crimes in New York
The shooting incidents last year have seen an enormous increase. The age of the shooting victims has also been increasingly younger, involving teenagers and young children.
According to The New York Times, in 2022, about one kid out of every ten New Yorkers hit by a gunshot was a child.
Last year, according to Police Department records, there were 149 gunshot victims under 18. This is much more than the 138 children shot in 2021.
The number of persons under 18 accused of shootings is also increasing: 105 were recorded by the end of September 2022, compared to 102 for the entire year of 2021.
Crime and gun violence against young people have climbed in the past few years since the Raise the Age Law was passed.
As a comparison, only 75 of the gunshot victims in 2017 were minors, when gun violence was at an all-time low.
Raise the Age Law
According to the New York State, New York was previously one of only two states that automatically prosecuted 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.
However, on October 1, 2019, the Raise the Age New York law fully kicked in, which means that the age of criminal responsibility is now 18 years old.
Punishing the youth and preventing them from receiving the services they needed to rehabilitate themselves and reintegrate into their communities was seen as an injustice.
The Raise the Age law means that New York's youth who commit non-violent crimes will receive age-appropriate housing and programming to lower their risk of re-offending.
Some believe that numerous factors possibly cause New York's violence against teenagers.
Some of the reasons might include the easy accessibility to weapons, the turmoil caused by the pandemic in schools and homes, and the economic destruction of low-income areas during the last three years.
Community leaders say that the lack of resources for academic assistance, after-school activities, and mental healthcare may leave teenagers aimless and trapped in cycles of violence and vengeance.
