Yuval Sheer from The New York Center for Juvenile Justice sez, “Every year in the state of New York more than 40,000 youth are arrested and prosecuted as adults. The state views 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for criminal law purposes, and it also prosecutes children 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds as adults when they are accused of certain crimes.
Prosecuting children as adults undermines their unique potential to overcome adversities and learn from mistakes made at a young age. Children tried as adults are exposed to a lifetime stigma of a criminal record and denied opportunities to receive age appropriate support. Furthermore, in New York, 16- and 17-year-olds are held in adult facilities.”
This video asks a simple question. How can minors who are not allowed to even get a flu shot without their parents consent in New York, suddenly become adults when they make a mistake at a young age. It is a collaboration between Judge Michael Corriero, who presided over the cases of youth in New York’s adult criminal court system and T.J. Parsell, a filmmaker who at 17 was tried as an adult and incarcerated in an adult prison. The video was conceived by a group of young students who participated at the summer program of the New York Center for Juvenile Justice, an organization founded by Judge Corriero.
The New York Center for Juvenile Justice