Regarding "Westchester judge moves teen carjacking suspect's case to family court," lohud.com, Aug. 10:

A 17-year-old approaches a woman at a Yonkers gas station, pulls a knife and forces his way into the driver's seat of her car. She happens to be an off-duty New York State Police officer. She fires a single shot; he is wounded, and he still manages to drive the stolen vehicle before he's caught blocks away. He’s charged with robbery in the first degree, a violent felony.

Under New York's "Raise the Age" law, that is where the certainty ends. Once a case like this reaches court, the law presumes it belongs in Family Court unless prosecutors can convince a judge that "extraordinary circumstances" justify keeping it in the criminal system. For a violent felony, prosecutors get a three-part test: did the offender display a weapon, cause significant injury or commit a sex offense, but even meeting that test is no guarantee.

New York courts have spent the past year trying to define "extraordinary circumstances," and defense attorneys now advise clients that Family Court is the default, not the exception.

We need to fix 'Raise the........

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