This week, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice quietly dropped a new report indicating, once again, that the 2018 Raise the Age Law that moved 16- and 17-year-olds out of adult court and increased the age of criminal responsibility in New York state to 18 is not creating a "consequence-free" youth crime wave, as NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has previously said.
According to the report, in 2024, the youth share of citywide felony and violent felony arrests was the same as it was in 2018, and recidivism was stable or decreasing in most categories. "In short, adults, not teens, have disproportionately contributed to the post‑2018 rise in felony arrests," the report says.
The exception is gun arrests for those under the age of 18, which increased by 136 percent since 2018, to 486 arrests in 2024. "While comparable figures for adults are not available, the increase in youth-specific gun incidents suggests a rising exposure to firearms for this group," the report adds.