Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple supported raising the age of criminal responsibility in New York to 18 — which would end defendants aged 16 and 17 in adult courts and adults jails.

"I think anybody that runs a correctional facility can see how these kids change and harden over time," Apple said.  

Now fully phased in, Apple says the law has had little effect on his department or his jail.  

"All you could hear was people saying, ‘How are we going to do this? We need this, we need that.’ And, listen, 48 other states have done this. I think it was us and North Carolina were the two outstanding states. If 48 other states could do that, I think one of the largest states in the union could do it as well," Apple said.  

Apple said he is supportive, too, of ending cash bail for when people are accused of lower-level crimes but remains concerned with coming changes to the criminal justice system approved earlier this year in New York — such as the expedited evidence discovery process for criminal cases.    

"That's going to put a big burden on a lot of agencies and there, I'm afraid, you will have some people who will be let out of jail who shouldn't be let out of jail," Apple said.  

Local county prosecutors have also raised concerns with the effect — regarding both time spent and cost — in complying with the new law.  

"We're working hard to come up and have a better process to make sure they can get all the information they need within seven days, so they then can go out and get it out to the defense," Apple said.  

In many of these instances, at the heart of the push for these criminal justice law efforts, is to keep people from spending too much time in jail while they await trial.