Raise the Age Summit

The Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission and the New York State Office for Judicial Initiatives is hosting the Raise the Age Summit on Oct. 13 from 9:00 am to 4 pm at the Syracuse University College of Law, Dineen Hall, 950 Irving Avenue, Syracuse, NY.

The program will examine the impact of the Raise the Age legislation on the courts, legal community, youth, and community. The program 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.

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 is hosted by the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission and the New York State Office for Justice Initiatives and co-sponsored by Syracuse University College of Law

The summit 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 Hon. 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, Penn State Dickenson School of Law.