RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina legislature has agreed that only children 8 and older can be prosecuted in the state’s juvenile courts. That's up from the current age of 6.
North Carolina currently is the state with the lowest age for juvenile adjudication set by law in the country.
A bill given final legislative approval on Tuesday by the Senate would end that should Gov. Roy Cooper let it become law.
Bills debated earlier this year would have raised the minimum age to 10, but some legislators successfully argued that court intervention for 8- and 9-year-olds who commit serious felonies is warranted.
