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NYS Raise the Age Implementation Task Force Releases Final Report

The Raise the Age law required the creation of a Task Force. With members appointed by the Governor, the Task Force is responsible for monitoring the state’s progress in implementing and complying with the major components of the law and reporting its findings to the Governor, the Assembly Speaker and Senate President, at the completion of each of the first two years of implementation.

The first report was published in August 2019 and described the significant implementation and monitoring activities undertaken by multiple state agencies, local governments, and community agencies and organizations before the law took effect on October 1, 2018. The 2019 report also provided a preliminary analysis of the law’s impact by examining data collected during the first six months of implementation. In May 2020, a supplemental report detailing the number of youth served under RTA during the full 12 months of phase one (16-year-olds) was published.

This report – the second and final statutorily required task force report – offers an early look at how full enactment of the law has altered New York State’s youth justice landscape. There were 18 months of implementation data available at the time of preparation, and six of those months included data on both 16- and 17-year-olds. As a result, this report does not fully evaluate the long-term impacts of RTA. The work of the Task Force has laid a strong foundation for continued state-level monitoring of RTA-related case activity and processing outcomes, which will be routinely available on the OCFS and DCJS websites. Appendix N also provides a list of data resources and links. This report provides detailed information on how the volume and processing of 16- and 17-year-olds through the justice system have changed in the short period studied. A more comprehensive analysis of the law’s impact will be possible in the future.