“Minors contribute to the overall crime problem, but not in a way that would justify the overwhelming punitive policy response,” said Jeffrey Butts, research professor and director of the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Is it misleading to concentrate our attention on one subset of the population?”
Violent arrests among New Yorkers under age 18 surged after 2020, most likely for the same reasons as adults.
The Research and Evaluation Center is developing a policy analysis and review about the Thrive Academy in Maryland, an effort to prevent youth gun violence in partnership with the State’s Department of Juvenile Justice and a multi-government agency and community stakeholder program known as the Community Investment Initiative (CII).
A recent report from John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that the share of felony dangerous weapons offenses committed by people under 18 in New York City has actually decreased since Raise the Age was passed in 2017.
“The best way to understand evaluation research and the development of evidence in youth justice today is to view it as a contentious and evolving process constantly affected by theoretical differences, political ideology, financial interest, bureaucratic dysfunction, and the practical concerns of measurement and data collection.”
“You’re watching this like it’s a pandemic starting to take off, and you want to intervene now so to head off further increases,” said Dr. Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
