How a broken juvenile justice system is failing in NYC

One of the Big Apple’s most notorious criminals this year has been arrested two dozen times in less than two years, yet remains free to walk city streets — because he’s just 14 years old.

Another young thug, just 12 years old, has already been busted six times, but also roams the streets at will after being cycled through a state juvenile justice system that is handcuffed by lax laws and inadequate resources — and there’s nothing authorities can do about it.

“We are arresting juveniles at the highest level than we have ever seen before,” NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri told The Post. “We are seeing juveniles commit five, six, seven robberies. Most of them get dealt with under the Family Court statutes.

“If they get arrested with a gun we know a quarter of that population will be involved in a shooting in [some] way, which means a victim, which means a perpetrator, which means that they were at the scene as a witness — a quarter of that population,” the chief said.

“Why? Because there’s no consequences right now,” he added. “We already have 15 juveniles murdered this year by a gun. I’m talking about being murdered by a gunshot. It wasn’t even close in prior years.”

The Empire State’s “Raise the Age” law and controversial bail reform statutes have spawned a younger breed of criminals who dodge big-boy treatment and instead get thrown into an overwhelmed juvenile system that lacks the space, the resources and the authority to keep them locked up, critics say.

The city’s two juvenile holding facilities are now dangerously overcrowded, and stringent laws prohibit cops from reviewing criminal records or hooking up young troublemakers with resources to help them.

Meanwhile, Lipetri said 12% of gun arrests this year involve suspects under 18, up from 7% in 2018, when Raise the Age first took effect. And while the NYPD made 275 juvenile gun arrests in 2016, he said there have already been 438 this year.

Cases reviewed by The Post expose the consequences — baby-faced defendants who are cycled in and out of overcrowded youth holding facilities and a judicial system without the power to do anything about it.

The 14-year-old troublemaker is one egregious example of the failing system.

Despite his tender age he has built a rap sheet with nearly two dozen arrests, primarily on robbery, grand larceny and possession of stolen property charges, with some of his busts now sealed, sources said.

His most recent arrest came on Oct. 22, when he was charged after a Brooklyn purse-snatching incident, less than one month after a separate robbery arrest elsewhere in the borough.

The 12-year-old suspect was most recently pinched in the Bronx on Nov. 9 and charged with gun possession — adding to a string of arrests that include assault and reckless endangerment busts.

Yet, both youngsters remained free after having cases heard in family court rather than adult court, sources said. They were both released without bail to their parents’ custody, the sources added.

And they’re not alone: One 15-year-old has already been charged four times, most recently after Queens school safety agents found a black Cobra pistol inside his backpack after he got into a fight, sources said.

Another underaged thug, 17, has nine arrests on his record, including for three gunpoint robberies in Brooklyn, according to sources.

Baby-faced gangbangers are even part of the migrant crime wave that has hit the city.

The notorious Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, which has established a foothold in the five boroughs over the past two years, has spawned an off-shoot crew of youngsters calling themselves “Diablos de la 42” — devils of 42nd Street — with members as young as 11.

One teen terror in the young crew was busted nearly a dozen times this year on a slew of robbery and assault charges and yet was allowed to remain free at a tax-funded migrant shelter until last month.

Only after his 11th bust in a knifepoint robbery was he finally locked up at one of the juvenile centers.

Meanwhile, the city’s only two juvenile holding facilities — Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx and Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn — are bursting at the seams after being forced to take in more violent and older teens thanks to the Raise the Age law.

In a scathing new report last month, the city Department of Investigation revealed that the resident population at the centers exploded from 52 in April 2018 to 237 in May 2023.

The number facing murder charges jumped from seven to more than 230 over the same span.

“Raise the Age does nothing to curtail criminal behavior in children, does nothing to protect victims from crime,” said a law enforcement source. “Clearly they’re unfazed by any faux deterrent the law offers.”

In an email to The Post, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul defended her law enforcement agenda.

“Governor Hochul’s top priority is to keep New Yorkers safe, which is why she has worked with the legislature to deliver record funding to crack down on gun crimes and car thefts, repeat offenders, and further expand the types of cases where judges have the discretion to set bail.

“Our administration will continue working with law enforcement and local officials to improve the criminal justice system, combat violence, and strengthen public safety across New York,” the email said.

But a law enforcement source griped that something has to change — starting in Albany.

“We need a top-to-bottom review of all the stakeholders to see what we can do to save these kids,” the sources said. “It’s not about incarceration. It’s about saving these kids and getting them on the right track.”

Additional reporting by Carl Campanile