When people hear the words “youth justice,” their minds may immediately go to courtrooms, judges, attorneys and young people who have been arrested.
But by the time a young person enters a courtroom, many other systems may already have played a role in his or her life.
There are schools and the ways they respond when students struggle or make mistakes. There are community programs that can intervene before a problem escalates. And there are opportunities, or the lack of them, for young people to feel connected to their neighborhoods and heard by the adults making decisions that affect them.
If we want a youth justice system that truly serves young people and communities, the conversation cannot begin at the courthouse door. That is why Youth Justice
Action Month, recognized each October, is an important opportunity to look beyond any single law or program and consider the broader systems that surround young people.
New York must invest in the Youth Justice Innovation Fund
At Westchester Children’s Association, we see youth justice through that broader lens. New York’s Raise the Age law is one part of that landscape. Enacted in 2017, the law increased the age of adult criminal responsibility to 18 and changed how many cases involving 16- and 17-year-olds move through the justice system.
The premise behind age-appropriate treatment is important: young people are still developing. Accountability and public safety matter, but so do rehabilitation, intervention and the opportunity for a young person to move forward without one mistake defining the rest of his or her life.
Earlier this year, the state adopted its FY27 budget without rolling back Raise the Age. At the same time, the Youth Justice Innovation Fund, which WCA supports, was not established.
The proposed fund would direct $50 million from New York’s existing $250 million Raise the Age appropriation to community-based organizations providing prevention, early intervention and alternatives to detention, placement and incarceration.
For WCA, the importance of that proposal goes directly to the larger question of what youth justice should look like. A law can establish a framework, but laws alone cannot provide the mentoring, intervention, family support and community connections that can help a young person before a crisis deepens.
That same principle applies when young people first encounter law enforcement.
WCA also supports New York’s Right to Remain Silent: Early Access to Counsel legislation, which would strengthen protections for children during custodial interrogation, including requiring young people to consult with an attorney before questioning. Age-appropriate justice means recognizing that young people need protections that reflect their developmental stage at every point in the system.
New York must also invest in prevention efforts in our schools
But youth justice does not exist only in police stations and courtrooms. It also exists in our schools.
WCA is the Westchester lead for the statewide Solutions Not Suspensions Coalition, which focuses on how schools respond to student behavior and what tools educators have available when problems arise.
The coalition has requested a $50 million investment in New York’s FY2027-28 budget for school climate improvements, including technical assistance, professional development and direct support for school districts. The goal is to give schools more tools to address behavior while reducing reliance on disciplinary approaches that remove students from the classroom.
These conversations can be difficult because school safety, accountability, student well-being and educators’ needs all matter. They should not be treated as competing concerns. Understanding what leads to problematic behavior, responding appropriately and maintaining safe learning environments are all part of the same challenge.
And youth justice should not begin only when something has already gone wrong.
That is where civic engagement becomes part of the conversation.
Through WCA’s Project Engage, we work with school districts and community groups to help middle and high school students better understand government, volunteerism and civic participation. Young people live with the consequences of public decisions every day. They experience policies in their classrooms. They see their impact in their neighborhoods. They encounter systems designed by adults long before they are old enough to vote.
Giving young people opportunities to understand those systems, engage with their communities and recognize that their voices matter is part of creating stronger connections between young people and the institutions around them.
Youth Justice Action Month gives us a reason to examine that entire continuum: what happens before a young person encounters the justice system, how we respond when intervention is necessary, what supports exist in schools and communities, and whether young people see themselves as participants in civic life.
A courtroom may be where we most visibly see the youth justice system at work. But the future of a young person is being shaped long before he or she ever reaches one.
If we are serious about youth justice, we have to look at that larger picture and invest attention not only in what happens after a young person enters the system, but in the schools, communities, protections and opportunities that surround them long before that moment arrives.
Adam Rabinovitch is executive director of Westchester Children’s Association.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Youth justice in NY must begin long before the courtroom | Opinion
