Opinion | New York Post editorial: More teen killers, and Albany's Raise the Age law is to blame

The New York Post editorial board argues that New York's Raise the Age law is producing more young killers, pointing to Wednesday's arrest of a 17-year-old in the killing of Javits Frimpong, the 15-year-old Bronx student shot while walking to school last month.

The law, which took effect seven years ago, sends most 16- and 17-year-old defendants to Family Court instead of adult Criminal Court. The Post says that has meant little or no punishment even for violent crimes, so teens who could have learned from a small mistake go on to bigger ones, and gangs recruit teens to carry guns because they will walk even if caught. Juvenile gun arrests are up 19% this year, the editorial says, and violent teen crime is well above where it was before the law.

The board also points to overcrowded city youth lockups, where violent 16- and 17-year-olds are housed with children as young as 12. Horizons in the Bronx, it says, held 187 kids in 125 beds and had a riot in June, and the city is now easing the crowding with mass releases into an "intensive community monitoring program."

The Post urges state lawmakers to back Gov. Kathy Hochul's call to fix Raise the Age: "Raise the Age is a disaster that needs serious changes, or the youth carnage will keep growing."