NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell blames New York’s criminal justice reforms for the surge in youth violence.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell on Thursday said the state’s criminal justice reforms are failing to allow the department to stop a worrying trend of teenage violence – even as the Big Apple grapples with the rise in children involved in gun crimes. as new data show.

“As you have seen over the past year, since 2017 the number of juveniles who have either committed a crime or been a victim of a crime has increased,” Sewall said in an exclusive chat with The Post.

The state’s 2019 Raise the Age Regulation, which raised the age of charge for juvenile adults to 18 from the previous threshold of 16 and 17, “has really impacted how we can do juvenile justice.” “, – she said.

Police data obtained by The Post shows that the number of city children involved in shootings has risen by more than 70% compared to 2017.

That number, which includes underage shooters, suspects, victims and witnesses, rose from 179 in 2017 to 388 last year, according to statistics.

“We’ve said over and over again, not just for juveniles but across the board, that there needs to be some sort of legislative fix for things like this,” Sewall said.

“I understand that these were well-intentioned reforms. But when you see them in practice, you understand that there must be some remedy.”

Her comments come a day after retiring NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kevin O’Connor, who is in charge of the department’s youth division, also pointed the finger at the Age Raising Act, which has spurred a “defective” criminal justice system against minors.

O’Connor, who is resigning Friday, said the law has led to fewer arrests of suspected juvenile delinquents and more “juveniles” being slapped – the equivalent of a fine that carries no criminal consequences. .

“We don’t even give them a little timeout, so to speak,” he told The Post. “And this is where Raise the Age really fails our kids. Relapses are on the rise.”

In her speech to the NYPD on Wednesday, Sewell also warned of “a system that lacks meaningful intervention for our youth.”

Since 2019, when the Raise the Age initiative went into effect, NYPD statistics show a sharp drop in arrests in seven major categories of crime and weapons cases among suspects under the age of 18, from 5,009 in 2019 to 3,472 last year. .

Young New Yorkers detained today now face child treatment in their cases in family court or youth court in the state Supreme Court, where records are classified and sentences are commuted.

O’Connor said the juvenile reports “lead nowhere” because they are legally sealed and recidivism remains a secret.

Sewell in his office at 1 Polis Plaza. Matthew McDermott

Camryn Williams allegedly shot and killed an NYPD cop last year.

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When asked what the city can do about the problem of uncontrolled youth violence, Sewall spoke about the programs offered to minors.

“Over the summer, we enlisted about 800 children with the NYPD to participate in the Summer Youth Employment Program,” she said. “We have so many things to do. We have the Explorers program for PAL to the Saturday Night Lights just to give our kids an alternative to crime, and we see them join gangs all too often.”

She also recalled the horror of visiting heartbroken parents in hospitals after children were killed in the city.

Last month, The Post reported that more children are in the line of fire, with one in ten shooting victims in 2022 under the age of 18.

“That’s our goal every single day… you know, when the mayor and I visited so many different hospitals over the last year…,” Sewell said. “And you have to ask yourself, ‘What can we do differently?’

“We are doing everything we can to bring to justice those who commit violence in the city,” she promised. “We will not tolerate this.”

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