North Carolina Governor Vetoes Juvenile Justice Bill

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that would have expanded the number of crimes for which minors could be charged as adults in the state. House Bill 834 would have made changes to a previously enacted law called “Raise the Age,” which allows 16- and 17-year-olds to be tried in juvenile court for a host of offenses. “Most violent crimes, even when committed by teenagers, should be handled in adult court,” Mr. Cooper said in a press release announcing the veto. “However, there are cases where sentences would be more effective and appropriate to the severity of the crime for teenagers if they were handled in juvenile court, making communities safer. This bill makes this important option highly unlikely and begins to erode our bipartisan ‘Raise the Age’ law we agreed to four years ago.”...