{"id":131753,"date":"2026-02-12T21:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/131753\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T21:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:28:08","slug":"staten-island-da-calls-for-raise-the-age-law-reform-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/131753\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island DA calls for ‘Raise the Age’ law reform in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The Richmond County District Attorney\u2019s Office hosted its annual legislative breakfast at LaGrieci\u2019s Staaten in West Brighton last Friday, Feb. 6.<\/p>\n

District Attorney Michael E. McMahon convened with the Island\u2019s elected officials and representatives from the mayor\u2019s and governor\u2019s offices for the event, where public safety and proposed changes to state law were high on the menu. <\/p>\n

\u2018Raise the Age\u2019 law criticized<\/p>\n

The gathering focused largely on calls to reform New York\u2019s \u201cRaise the Age\u201d law, which McMahon described as a priority for the coming legislative session.<\/p>\n

McMahon provided attendees an overview of public safety trends in the borough, noting a significant decline in opioid overdose deaths and historic lows in violent crime last year. However, he said challenges remain, including youth crime, domestic violence and scams targeting residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Staten Island was fortunate to witness a significant decline in opioid overdose deaths and historic lows in violent crime last year, now is not the time for a victory lap,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cYouth crime, domestic violence, and the omnipresence of scams remain massive public safety issues for Staten Islanders and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMahon urged lawmakers to revisit the state\u2019s \u201cRaise the Age\u201d statute, which raised the age of criminal responsibility to 18. He called the law \u201cwell-intentioned but misguided.\u201d According to McMahon, the law has allowed some adolescent offenders to face limited consequences for serious crimes, including certain gun offenses and violent assaults.<\/p>\n

The district attorney also thanked local legislators for their work last year to secure changes to New York\u2019s discovery laws, which govern how prosecutors and defense attorneys share evidence. McMahon said the revisions have helped prosecutors better hold dangerous offenders accountable in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partnership was on full display in 2025 as our borough\u2019s elected officials and partners in government worked with law enforcement to secure meaningful changes to New York State\u2019s discovery laws,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cNow, our legislative leaders must aim their focus at \u2018Raise the Age.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those in attendance were state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, Assemblymember Michael Reilly and Councilmember Frank Morano. Representatives for other elected officials were also on hand<\/p>\n

McMahon went on to say he looks forward to continuing to work with city, state and federal partners to prioritize public safety in 2026.<\/p>\n

\"LegislativeThe Richmond County District Attorney’s Office hosted it’s annual legislative breakfast on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.(Courtesy of RCDA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The Richmond County District Attorney\u2019s Office hosted its annual legislative breakfast at LaGrieci\u2019s Staaten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-131753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}