Raise The Floor: Increasing the Minimum Age of Prosecution of Youth as Adults

State legislatures across the country are passing laws to “raise the floor” by raising the minimum age at which a child could be prosecuted as an adult, according to a new brief by the Campaign for Youth Justice, Raise The Floor: Increasing the Minimum Age of Prosecution of Youth as Adults.

The brief highlights legislative efforts in a variety of states including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont that have raised their minimum age of transfer for at least one of their transfer mechanisms.   For some states, including California, Florida, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island, raising the minimum age resulted in the state getting rid of one of its transfer mechanisms altogether.