The Legal Aid Society today unveiled its 2020 New York State Black Youth Justice Agenda, which seeks to ensure that the rights and safety of children across the state are protected. The 2020 legislative platform calls on the State Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo to pass and enact three key bills to end the arrest and prosecution of children under the age of 12 (S8685/A10727), prohibit interrogation of children by law enforcement unless they have consulted with counsel (S4980B/A6982B), and end unauthorized DNA data indexes (S6009/A7818), reports the Chronicle for Social Change.

“Amid the nation’s moment of reckoning around racism and the disproportionate treatment of Black and brown communities, New York must take action to protect our most vulnerable children and ensure that they are treated as children and not unjustly drawn into the prison pipelines that have historically ravaged communities of color,” said Dawne Mitchell, Attorney-in-Charge of the Juvenile Rights Practice at The Legal Aid Society.