North Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday approved a proposal requiring more teenagers facing criminal charges to be tried initially as adults.

The bill requires 16- and 17-year-olds who commit certain felonies to be tried first as adults in the state’s superior courts.

Currently, those juveniles are tried in the state’s juvenile court after a petition is filed. They are transferred over to the state’s superior courts after probable cause is found or they are indicted. The bill includes a mechanism for these cases to be transferred back to juvenile court.

The state House of Representatives approved changes made by senators to the bill, sending it to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. While Cooper has not said whether he will block it, some Democratic lawmakers expressed concerns that it would pull back juvenile justice protections. Those in favor have argued it’s a procedural change allowing the juvenile justice system to function more smoothly.

Durham Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey said it “was a proud moment,” for the state when “we did Raise the Age,” a law which pulled 16- and 17-year-olds accused of misdemeanors and low-level felonies from the adult system into the juvenile justice system.

But since that was passed in 2017, “we have been chipping away at it,” including with this bill, Morey said.

With Raise the Age, “we had the goal of rehabilitating many of the youth who had committed crimes,” said Rep. Amos Quick, a Greensboro Democrat.

“I don’t think anyone in here is in favor of crime. I certainly am not in favor of crime, but I am in favor of juveniles. Juveniles who commit offenses need rehabilitation, not to have the book thrown at them,” he said.

This legislation “is the wrong move to make,” he said.

The bill passed with support from all House Republicans who voted, except for one, Rep. John Faircloth of Guilford County. All but seven Democrats opposed the bill.

Will it matter if cases start in adult court?

The bill passed the Senate in mid-May and faced no debate. Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican who has pushed for the bill, said on the Senate floor that the bill is “trying to deal with these violent A-E felonies, trying to deal with these individuals that are mostly prosecuted in superior court but through a lengthy transfer process, a very convoluted transfer process. What we’re not doing is rolling back Raise the Age.”

In a committee hearing, Liz Barber with the ACLU of North Carolina said the bill was not “just a clarification on procedure.”

Starting in adult court, she said, will make it harder to get youths to testify against “more culpable people,” will lead them to “forever have an adult record,” and will make it a “harder lift” for juvenile defense attorneys to convince prosecutors to send cases to juvenile court, she said.

Barber said it’s “simply not true” that A-E felony cases always end up in adult court. She said she talked with a juvenile prosecutor who said that they did keep some youths charged with D and E felonies in juvenile court.