North Carolina is one of only two states where 16-year-old criminal suspects are automatically tried as adults. Proponents of raising the age to 18 have tried to get the law changed for years. This year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to make it happen, but opponents of the change say we shouldn't try to do too much too fast.
Host Frank Stasio talks about juvenile justice with Tamar Birckhead, assistant professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Eric Zogry, a juvenile defender with the state’s Office of the Juvenile Defender; William Lassiter, community programs state administrator for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety; and Eddie Caldwell, the spokesman for the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association.
