Raleigh: Children Semah 6 can be prosecuted in the North Carolina teen court – The lowest age set by law in the country – but the bipartisan effort will increase the minimum age of delinquency to 10 and move its status at the bottom.
More than 2,100 complaints were put forward against almost 1,150 young men under 10 years for three years of fiscal starting 2016 to 2019, according to the North Carolina Public Safety Department, with disproportionate black children accused.
Data showed 211 children aged 6 to 9 appeared before the judge, including 54 finally found responsible for complaints.
While the State Prison official said there were no children under 10 which were placed behind the bar during the period, lawyers, advocates of racial justice and parliamentarians were worried that the court’s appearance itself could create eternal hazards.
“The possibility of those who lack legal capacity is very high and the potential damage to the development of real identity is also very high,” said Fedders Barbara, Director of Youth Justice Clinic at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
“It feels like we do everything harm if we can’t find a better way to deal with this problem than prosecution.” In 2014, the Fedders clinic represented a 6-year-old boy in the Raleigh area who threw a stone to an empty apartment window.
Afraid and far from his mother, the child, who was black, claimed police officers at the scene.
The property owner wants money for the damaged window, so for the next few months, the boy’s boy and his mother went to court twice, causing him to miss school.
The clinic got this case was dismissed by arguing that children under 7 were unable to form a criminal intention.
State Rep.
Marcia Morey, a Durham County Democrats and the former judge, remember the children in the courtroom sitting on a large table in a play chair – some of the youngest feet hanging and crying.
The most worrying for him was the case he went back and forth about 2010 involving a 7-year-old child, a man of 8 year old and 11-year-old throwing dice into a building in a public housing complex.
“I just dumbaruck.
They took these children to court to throw dice,” Mory said.
Members of Parliament set 6 as the minimum age of the minimum jurisdiction of North Carolina in 1979 during the period when a harsh-on-crime law often occurred and some saw teenage justice systems as a way to get their children and parents.
Twenty-eight states and Washington, DC, do not have age specifications, according to March reports from the North Carolina Public Security Department.
Connecticut, Maryland and New York set a minimum age of 7, while Massachusetts and California have the highest threshold for teenagers at the age of 12 years.
Twelve countries allowed 10-year-old children to be prosecuted in a teen court, three countries have a minimum age of 8 and one country set a minimum at 11 years.
About 600 teen trial counselors were assigned to decide how complaints should be continued.
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Bill North Carolina aims to stop demanding a 6-year-old child
