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

State Rep. Michele Hoitenga’s plan to end the policy requiring all 17-year-olds to be treated as adults in Michigan’s criminal justice system today was overwhelmingly approved by the Michigan House.

Hoitenga, who sponsored the plan alongside a bipartisan group of her colleagues, said 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. She 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.

“Every single Michigan resident will benefit from this historic reform,” said Hoitenga, of Manton. “It will produce brighter futures for troubled teenagers, improve public safety by reducing the number of young people who reoffend, and ultimately reduce the number of public tax dollars spent on prisons so we can invest more in roads, schools and other critical services.”

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

Hoitenga’s plan 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. Funding was the key sticking point that halted similar reform efforts in the past.

Hoitenga 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.

House Bills 4133-46, 4443 and 4452 now move to the Senate for consideration.