The Boston Celtics are supporting a bill sponsored by state Sen. Brendan Crighton that would raise the age of adult criminal sentencing in Massachusetts from 18 to 20.

Legislators met with the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, and the Committee for Public Counsel Services this week to discuss the Raise the Age legislation and its intended purpose of reducing recidivism rates for young adults introduced into the criminal justice system.

The meeting was attended by Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, who advocated for the legislation, as well as Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca.

“It’s pretty powerful to have such an influential organization being committed to social justice and targeting one of our priority pieces of legislation,” Crighton said.

Currently, there are two Raise the Age bills in the Commonwealth’s legislature — a House bill filed by state Reps. James J. O’Day and Manny Cruz and a Senate bill sponsored by Crighton. Although both bills were introduced last year, the push to increase the age of adult sentencing in the Commonwealth has been active for more than a decade.

In 2013, the legislature voted to increase the age of adult criminal sentencing from 17 to 18. Since then, Crighton said, extensive research in the field of neuroscience has shown that young adults’ brains are still developing until the age of approximately 25, affecting their decision-making and impulse control.

The bill, Crighton said, aligns with a push to prioritize rehabilitation and education over incarceration for younger offenders in the criminal justice system.

“We want to take a smarter approach that creates better outcomes for folks as they reemerge into society,” Crighton said. “There are students in high school that are 18 years old. Should they offend, they could be placed in an adult prison with people so far out of their age range, and we’ve seen that the likelihood of them having success and rehabilitation is far less likely than if they were in the Department of Youth Services system, where they can get some education.”

Under the proposed legislation, young adults ages 18 through 20 who commit serious offenses such as murder could still be tried as adults at a judge’s discretion.

Crighton said the legislation is part of a concerted effort for criminal justice reform in the legal system. He cited the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, saying that Black youths are roughly eight times more likely and Hispanic youths are roughly four times more likely to be incarcerated than white youths.

“There’s an overrepresentation of young people of color in the adult system. And again, we want the best outcome for our youth which, with less recidivism and less crime, would be better for society as a whole,” Crighton said.