Legislation ends policy requiring 17-year-olds to be treated as adults in court

State Rep. Joe Bellino today voted to end the policy requiring all 17-year-olds to be treated as adults in Michigan’s criminal justice system.

The plan was overwhelmingly approved by the Michigan House and now advances to the Senate for consideration.

Michigan is one of just four states still requiring all 17-year-olds to be prosecuted as adults – even those who commit the most minor offenses. Bellino said eliminating this harmful and ineffective practice will help rehabilitate young offenders and reduce the likelihood of them breaking the law again in the future.

“We will save taxpayer dollars by focusing on rehabilitating teens rather than subjecting them to the problems associated with living in an adult prison population,” said Bellino, of Monroe. “This plan gives our prosecutors and judges the discretion they need to determine the best path forward for 17-year-old offenders.”

Including 17-year-olds in the juvenile system has been shown to reduce reoffending by 34 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

House Bills 4133-46, 4443 and 4452 would raise the age at which individuals are considered adults for the purposes of prosecuting and adjudicating criminal offenses, allowing 17-year-olds to be treated as minors within the juvenile system in most circumstances beginning Oct. 1, 2021. Prosecutors will continue to have some discretion, allowing them to waive minors who commit violent crimes into the adult system when appropriate.

The measure also includes a funding plan to ensure local communities do not incur any additional costs associated with keeping 17-year-old offenders in the juvenile system, which is administered at the local level.

Bellino said the reform is expected to improve public safety and save public tax dollars over time. Connecticut, Illinois and Massachusetts are among the states that have experienced millions of dollars in savings, decreases in the number of reoffending youth and declines in judicial costs after raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to 18.