Imagine facing adult consequences for a misguided mistake you made as a child. That is exactly what is happening to some adult defendants in Pennsylvania. In Commonwealth v. Armolt, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that an adult defendant over the age of 21 may be prosecuted in adult court for a crime they committed as a juvenile. Though the defendant has matured and may not make the same choices they did when they were a child, they are tried as if they committed the crime as an adult. This disparate treatment is fundamentally unfair.
 
In that same court case, the court noted that any changes to address this loophole should be enacted by the General Assembly. Our legislation would follow the court’s guidance by creating a presumption that anyone who committed a delinquent act while under the age of 18 (regardless of how old they are when charges are brought) must be tried as a child and not an adult unless the district attorney can prove to the court that the person should be tried as an adult. Closing this loophole would ensure that defendants in cases involving late-discovered juvenile acts are treated justly.
 
Simply put, an offense that occurred when the person was a juvenile should be treated as a juvenile case. Please consider joining us in correcting the aging out loophole by signing on to this proposal.