Judiciary committee reviews H.2: raises juvenile lower age to 12, pauses 19‑year‑old step of 'raise the age' until 2027

House Judiciary Committee members heard a detailed walkthrough of House Bill No. 2 on changes to juvenile jurisdiction, including a proposal to raise the minimum age for juvenile delinquency proceedings from 10 to 12, remove an exception that currently allows murder cases to be charged as delinquency matters for children under the minimum age, extend certain jurisdictional timeframes toward a child’s 20th birthday, and pause the scheduled April 1, 2025 expansion to include 19‑year‑olds until July 1, 2027.

The bill drew discussion about the policy goals and the state of implementation. Eric Fitzpatrick of the Office of Legislative Counsel told the committee the draft on the table would "bump up that low threshold" so that "a 10 and 11 year old" would not be the subject of a juvenile proceeding under the proposal, although the conduct could still be relevant in CHINS (child in need of supervision) or other Department for Children and Families (DCF) matters.

The bill’s sponsor, Representative Martin Malone, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a representative from South Burlington, said the measures reflect concerns about brain development and the long-term consequences of criminal records. Malone said testimony from juvenile justice practitioners supported the change, and that the proposal to remove the murder exception was backed by the Defender General’s Office and other stakeholders because witnesses could not recall cases of children under 12 charged with murder in recent memory.

Nut graf: The proposal changes three core elements of juvenile jurisdiction in state statute: raising the minimum age for delinquency proceedings from 10 to 12; removing a statutory exception that…