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

Another young boy, just 12 years old, has already been arrested six times but is also walking the streets free after being cycled through a state juvenile justice system that is shackled by lax laws and inadequate resources – and the authorities can do nothing about it.

“We’re arresting juveniles at the highest level we’ve ever seen,” NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri told The Post. “We see juveniles committing five, six, seven robberies. Most of them are dealt with under the Family Court statute.

“If they’re arrested with a gun, we know a quarter of that population will be involved in some kind of shooting, which means a victim, which means a perpetrator, which means they were there as a witness — a a quarter of that population,” the chief said.

“Why? Because there are no consequences right now,” he added. “We’ve already had 15 juveniles killed this year by a gun. I’m talking about a gunshot kill. It wasn’t even close in previous years.”

The Empire State’s “Raise the Age” law and controversial bail reform statutes have spawned a younger breed of criminals who shun big-boy treatment and are instead thrown into an overwhelmed juvenile system that doesn’t have the space , the resources and authority to keep them locked up. up, say the critics.

The city’s two juvenile detention facilities are now dangerously overcrowded, and strict laws prohibit police from checking criminal records or connecting young troublemakers with resources to help them.

Meanwhile, Lipetri said 12 percent of gun arrests this year involve suspects under 18, up from 7 percent in 2018, when Raise the Age first went into effect. And while the NYPD made 275 arrests for juveniles with guns in 2016, he said there have already been 438 this year.

Cases reviewed by The Post lay out the consequences — baby-faced defendants being cycled in and out of overcrowded youth detention facilities and a court system powerless to do anything about it.

The 14-year-old is a glaring example of the failed system.

Despite his young age, he has built a rap sheet of nearly two dozen arrests, primarily for robbery, theft and possession of stolen property, with some of his busts now sealed, sources said.

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

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

However, both youths remained free after being heard in family court rather than adult court, sources said. Both were released without bail into the custody of their parents, the sources added.

And they’re not alone: ​​A 15-year-old has already been charged four times, most recently after school security in Queens found a black Cobra handgun in his backpack after a fight, sources said.

Another juvenile thug, 17, has nine arrests on his record, including three armed robberies in Brooklyn, sources said.

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

The famous Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, which has established a foothold in the five boroughs for the past two years, has given birth to a group of young people. calling himself “Diablos from 42” — devils of street 42 — with members from 11 years old.

One the terror of teenagers in the youth team he has been arrested nearly a dozen times this year on a string of robbery and assault charges and yet was allowed to remain free in a tax-funded migrant shelter until last month.

It wasn’t until the 11th bust in a knife robbery that he finally did locked up in one of the juvenile centers.

Meanwhile, the city’s only two juvenile detention facilities—Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx and Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn—are leaving in droves after being forced to take in more violent and older teenagers thanks to the Raise the Age law.

One a scathing new report last monthThe city’s Department of Investigation revealed that the resident population of the centers exploded from 52 in April 2018 to 237 in May 2023.

The number facing murder charges rose from seven to more than 230 in the same period.

“Raise the Age does nothing to reduce the criminal behavior of children, it does nothing to protect victims of crime,” a law enforcement source said. “They are clearly not bothered by any false deterrence that the law provides.”

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

“Governor Hochul’s top priority is keeping New Yorkers safe, which is why he has worked with the Legislature to provide record funding to fight gun crime and auto theft, repeat offenders, and further expand the types of cases in which judges have discretion. to set bail.

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

But one law enforcement source complained that something has to change — starting in Albany.

“We need a top-down review by all stakeholders to see what we can do to save these children,” 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