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R A I S E T H E A G E :

Before RTA reform, New York automatically prosecuted all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. Only one other state, North Carolina, did the same.

October 2019: Raise the Age (RTA) legislation went fully into effect and the age of criminal responsibility is raised to 18.

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Raise the Age allowed for 16- and 17-year-olds to apply for their records to be sealed. It also prevents children under the age of 18 from being held at the adult jail on Rikers Island, where young people were placed at special risk of violence and abuse.

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