The Big Apple has seen a staggering 80% increase in the number of kids arrested for robbery and a 23% hike in youngsters arrested for felony assaults so far this year, according to troubling NYPD data obtained by The Post.
So far this year, 816 teens across the five boroughs have been collared for robbery compared to 451 in the same period last year.
The number of youngsters arrested for felony assault has increased to 276 from 225, according to the most recent NYPD data available.
Arrests for rape are up 44%, from 9 to 13.
Kevin O’Connor, who was in charge of the department’s youth division before his retirement earlier this year, blamed the staggering increases on the Raise the Age law.
The criminal justice reform pushed by the state’s Democratic majority was enacted in 2018 and bumps up the age of criminal responsibility to 18 from 16.
That means in most cases, anyone younger would no longer be charged as adults.
It allows for exceptions for some violent crimes and some gun offenses.
“This is Raise the Age on steroids,” O’Connor said. “These kids have no repercussions. They get arrested and released, arrested and released.”
Juvenile crimes aren’t tracked because Family Court documents are sealed and there isn’t anywhere to put the juveniles so they get out and commit more crimes, he noted.
“So within 10 hours even if they’re remanded by a judge,” he said, “they’re released because there’s nowhere to put them.”
One recent, and disturbing, example is the 14-year-old who allegedly randomly punched a French tourist in Midtown on May 6.
The NYPD’s Manhattan Warrant Squad arrested George Luna on Wednesday — and realized he was also wanted for allegedly shooting a 79-year-old man in the hip near 124th Street and Second Avenue May 13, according to court documents and a law enforcement source.
Prosecutors requested $30,000 bail and $90,000 bond, but the judge granted $10,000 cash and $20,000 bond.
Officials wouldn’t specify what happened to the teen because of his age.
“They probably let him go with his parents,” the police source said.
Another case this month involved a 15-year-old who stabbed a teen seven times, leaving him covered in blood on a bench in downtown Brooklyn’s McLaughlin Park during a squabble over sunglasses.
Chozen Sanders, 18, had just gotten out of school on May 3 at the Assembly School for Law and Justice on Adams Street when a teen he didn’t know snatched his sunglasses.
“So I flashed a knife at him to scare him,” the teenager said, adding that it was his friend’s weapon.
The other boy jumped on him and stabbed him seven times, cops said.
Sanders needed emergency surgery to stop the internal bleeding, said mom Rushanna Sanders.
“You can’t go to parks anymore – you just can’t,” the mom said, choking back tears. “You just gotta go to school and come home.”
A 15-year-old was arrested and charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He was released from custody.
His name wasn’t released because he’s a juvenile.
And in April, a 14-year-old was arrested for kicking a 35-year-old Marine in the head while his friends called the man “a cracker” on Randall’s Island, police said.
The victim, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety, said he was enjoying a picnic with his girlfriend around 7 p.m. April 14 when he was kicked.
“I saw who it was and I chased him,” the victim said.
The 14-year-old attacker was arrested two days later and charged with assault as a hate crime, police said.
“Unfortunately, our government doesn’t do anything about [teen crime],” the vet said. “Instead, we sit there and slap them on the wrist and let them go walk free on the streets again.”
Deputy Inspector Eric Robinson, commanding officer of the NYPD’s public information department, chalked up soaring youth arrests to “a lot of good work being done” by cops, explaining that the relationships between police and communities had improved and cops were getting more tips that lead to arrests.
But O’Connor said something’s got to change to bring the numbers down.
“We’re prosecuting 16 and 17-year-olds with kid gloves,” O’Connor said. “The judge only looks at the kid for what the kid’s in front of him for. He’s not looking at the kid’s history. That’s because of Raise the Age.”
