Raise the Age 

Over the past ten years, half of the states that previously excluded all 16- and/or 17-year-olds from juvenile court based solely on their age, changed their laws so that most youth under age 18 will fall under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system. These policy changes are part of a nation-wide shift to "raise the age"--reforms focused on moving out of the adult criminal justice system the tens of thousands of youth under 18 who are automatically treated as adults because of age of jurisdiction laws. States raised the age for many reasons, one of which is research showing that justice-involved teenagers are more likely to move past delinquency and successfully transition to adulthood if they are served by a juvenile justice system, rather than the adult criminal justice system. Read JPI’s newest report on the growing national trend to Raise the Age, complete with state-based data and examples. You can visit our Raise the Age webpage to find our social media toolkit for joining the #RaiseTheAge conversation online, access our shareable graphics, and read other report materials. You can also read about JPI's Raise the Age report in The New York Times, The Hill, The NY Daily News, the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange and more!