More than five years of lobbying, arm twisting and a fair dose of shaming finally paid off. North Carolina voted Monday to end its status as the only state in the country that still automatically charges 16-year-olds as adults, no matter the crime.
The state legislature added the sweeping juvenile justice reform to a vote on the final state budget, rather than as a standalone bill. In the end it didn’t matter because supporters got virtually everything they were hoping for, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle joined forces to make the changes.
[For more of this story, written by John Holland, go to http://jjie.org/2017/06/20/nor...court-for-juveniles/]
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