Erase all juvenile records, even for murder

Opinion

From Peter Reinharz And Andrew Stein

March 20, 2023 | 6:27 p.m

It’s not enough that Albany has insisted that all 16 and 17-year-olds face family court for almost any crime – now they want to make sure the public and law enforcement never find out about them.

A new bill (p. 3104), sponsored by state Senator Jabari Brisport (D-Brooklyn), would push to the limit the protections of confidentiality afforded to young offenders.

Simply put, the bill states that the current family court confidentiality and sealing of records are inadequate.

Brisport wants the records destroyed so prosecutors, judges and police officers don’t know about the violent past of those they arrest and prosecute.

Under the current “Raise the Age” law, juvenile offenders start every new crime with a clean slate.

For example, the case of a 16-year-old arrested for possession of a loaded handgun would likely go to family court.

Most of these receive an out-of-court settlement – ​​perhaps through counseling or another social service.

This case is sealed. So if the same 16-year-old is arrested again for having a loaded gun, the police officer, prosecutor and judge cannot know the details of the previous incident.

That’s not enough for Brisport.

There is still a record of there being a case, even if it is sealed. Among other things, the new legislation would delete the entire data set.

In fact, the returned armed teenager would be a first-time offender again.

And possibly again.

And again.

And if a judge, police officer, prosecutor or probation officer identified the recurring villain and informed the court of the youth’s past, Brisport’s proposal would authorize the filing of a civil suit for damages of up to $1,000 in compensation for the armed teenager.

Who says crime doesn’t pay?

But the bill doesn’t end there.

It also allows criminals found guilty of the most serious crimes in family court to now request that their records be erased.

In the 1970s, legislatures passed a series of amendments to the Family Courts Act and the Criminal Procedure Act to hold violent young criminals accountable for their actions.

One of these changes allowed the creation of Designated Felony Acts that focused on 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds who committed serious crimes such as murder, violent rape, armed robbery, arson, and assault.

Juveniles found guilty of these offenses by family courts were eligible for increased penalties and were not entitled to the special “juvenile offender” protections otherwise available from the courts when arresting a teenager.

In its new proposal, Brisport wants to allow these most violent offenders to file a request to have all records wiped.

In other words, to pretend that the crime never happened – unless you were the victim or the family of a murdered person.

What are the senator’s motives for handcuffing police, prosecutors, and the courts even more as crime rises across the city?

Who knows?

Jabari Brisport is the chair of the powerful Children and Family Committee in the State Senate and, as the person in charge of juvenile justice matters, should be a key figure in curbing the rise of youth violence in the city.

In his Bedford-Stuyvesant district, homicides nearly doubled from 2017 to 2022, while arrests for assault rose from 325 to 451. Perhaps the senator’s method of reducing violent crime is to simply remove the numbers?

Attorney Peter Reinharz served as Chief Prosecutor in the New York City Family Courts from 1987 to 2002. Andrew Stein, a Democrat, was President of the New York City Council from 1986 to 1994.