Youth violence has skyrocketed in NYC, top cop Jessica Tisch reveals as she blames contentious Raise the Age law

Youth violence has skyrocketed in the Big Apple over the last few years, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday — as she placed the blame on the state’s contentious “Raise the Age” law.The number of kids under the age of 18 busted with a gun increased by a whopping 136% between 2018 and 2024, the top cop said alongside Mayor Eric Adams at a crime stats briefing held at City Hall.Over the same period, Tisch said the number of underage shooters soared 192%, while the number of juvenile victims of gun violence spiked by 81%.“I have seen enough,” Tisch said of the surging youth crime, while pointing the finger at Albany’s soft-on-crime law that raised the age of criminal responsibility to 18.The NYPD couldn’t immediately provide the exact numbers tied to the percentage increases cited by the commissioner.But so far in 2025, 36 — or 14% — of suspected shooters in the five boroughs have been under the age of 18, she said.And 44 shooting victims — also 14% — were under the age of 18 so far this year, according to Tisch.She said the spike was a result of Raise the Age, which was signed by then-governor – and now mayoral candidate – Andrew Cuomo on April 10, 2017, and took effect in October 2019.

The law upped the age for a teen to face adult charges to 18, from the previous 16- and 17-year-old threshold.“The idea behind this was one that we could all agree on: children should not be treated like adults in our criminal justice system,” Tisch said.“But when the age of criminal responsibility went up, the age of criminal suspects went down.” Gangs and crews are now recruiting ever-younger members – who “carry the guns and commit the shootings, the robberies and the assaults” – in order to evade serious consequences, according to the commissioner. “Seriously bad things come from a consequence-free environment, and right now juveniles who commit crimes in New York City are living in a virtually consequence-free environmen...