Beginning at age seven, a child can be prosecuted for criminal behavior in New York. A child can be prosecuted as a juvenile delinquent, juvenile offender, or youthful offender.

In New York, a juvenile delinquent is someone “over 7 and less than 16 years of age, who, having committed an act that would constitute a crime if committed by an adult, is not criminally responsible for such conduct by reason of infancy, or is the defendant in an action ordered

removed from a criminal court to the family court.” Juvenile can be prosecuted for any crime that an adult can be charged with, but the course of the prosecution can differ greatly.

Where an offender is under the age of 19, Natasha Turner, an experienced Orange County attorney based in the Hudson Valley, can work to make sure a child offender avoids a criminal conviction that could have serious consequences throughout adulthood.