Juvenile crime increases in NYC over last seven years

 The number of people under 18 accused of major crimes, including murders, robberies and assaults, has increased sharply in New York City in the past seven years, Police Department figures show — a steep trajectory that has alarmed law enforcement officials, reported The New York Times.

Last year, there were 4,858 major crimes where a minor was accused or arrested, up from 3,543 in 2017 — a 37 percent increase.

Those accused or arrested in felony assaults, in which a person is seriously injured or a deadly weapon like a gun or knife is used, have jumped by 28 percent since 2017. Robberies have risen by 52 percent. Killings in which a young person was accused rose to 36 in 2023 from 10 in 2017.

The number of young victims also rose dramatically, climbing 54 percent by 2023 compared with 2017.

“Most of what we see is youth-on-youth crime,” said Chief Michael LiPetri, head of crime strategies for the Police Department.

Crime committed by adults also rose in the same period, and the proportion of youth crime in 2023 remained a very small fraction of overall crime, about 3.8 percent, the same as it was in 2017. Still, police officials say that a rise in serious incidents involving minors can portend even more serious future violence.

The seven index crimes are murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny of automobiles. Many of the crimes have continued to increase dramatically in 2024, particularly robberies and felony assaults. Through Oct. 1, there were arrests for 969 felony assaults and 2,019 robberies, a 17 percent increase from the same time last year.

The spikes, which have been particularly pronounced as the city emerges from the disjointed pandemic years and which mirror a national trend, have reanimated a decades-long argument over how to deal with young offenders.

Until recently, the criminal justice system in New York treated many young people accused of serious crimes as adults. But in 2017, when youth crime had fallen to lows not seen for decades, legislators in Albany changed the way the cases of 16- and 17-year-olds were handled, passing a law known as “Raise the Age.”

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