Gov. Kathy Hochul demurred on a fight with the Democratic Party’s far-left faction, choosing not to amend a controversial law preventing criminal 16 and 17-year-olds to be tried as adults.
Hochul – who is up for re-election this year – isn’t proposing changes to the Raise the Age law in her new executive budget to be released next week, a spokesperson for her office told State of Politics Friday night.
Raise the Age was signed into law by ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017 and directs 16 and 17-year-old offenders to have their cases typically be heard by family court judges, even for serious felonies such as murder.
Critics of the law – including NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch — say it’s led to a surge in violent crimes committed by teens.
Hochul said in August she was “willing to look at” Raise the Age reform but had since remained mum about following through.
The governor is dealing with the threat of lawmakers endorsing her Democratic primary challenger, far left Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, and she would have faced serious resistance from over 200 criminal justice groups that have already formed a coalition to defend Raise the Age.