Advocates for reform of youth criminal justice laws rallied on Oct. 23, 2024 in St. Mary’s Park.
Photo Emily Swanson
Advocates rallied at St. Mary’s Park on Oct. 23 to support two bills that would expand protections for young people affected by the criminal justice system.
The Youth Justice and Opportunities Act, sponsored by Sen. Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn and co-sponsored by multiple Bronx senate and assembly members, would expand alternatives to incarceration and seal the criminal records of people under age 25.
The Right to Remain Silent Act — sponsored by state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, whose district includes parts of the northeast Bronx — would grant immediate legal counsel to arrested youth before they might waive their rights.
This type of legislation built around developmental science, which shows that the brain is not fully mature until around age 25, is long overdue in the state, advocates said.
“You would think New York would be on the cutting edge of legal reform for young people, but we’re not,” said Lisa Freeman, an attorney for the Legal Aid Society.
Freeman told the Bronx Times that arrested youth often waive their right to remain silent and may even falsely confess, believing it’s the quickest route to going back home. The Exonerated Five — the group of then-teenagers who falsely confessed to the 1981 rape of a woman in Central Park, only to have their convictions vacated in 2002 after serving full prison sentences — are a prime example of what can happen when young people don’t understand their rights, she said.
“It’s absurd that someone under 18 can’t buy a pack of cigarettes but can waive a constitutional right,” said Freeman.
If passed, the Right to Remain Silent Act would be fairly easy to implement with a toll-free hotline, said Freeman. California, Hawaii, Maryland and Washington have similar laws already on the books, and “New York is really behind the ball on this,” she…
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