State Rep. Doug Wozniak today introduced legislation as part of a bipartisan plan to transform the way 17-year-olds are treated in Michigan’s criminal justice system.

Wozniak, of Shelby Township, said Michigan is one of just four states in the country to automatically prosecute 17-year-olds as adults when they’re accused of breaking the law.

“This is an outdated practice that must be eliminated if we’re going to get serious about criminal justice reform,” said Wozniak, an attorney who serves on the House Judiciary Committee. “The juvenile court system has age-appropriate resources that will help rehabilitate 17-year-old offenders and set them up to become productive members of society.”

House Bills 4133-46 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. Prosecutors will continue to have some discretion, allowing them to waive minors who commit violent crimes into the adult system when appropriate.

The plan also establishes a funding mechanism to help local counties deal with the increased costs from the uptick of juvenile offenders in the system.

“In the long run, the benefits are going to outweigh the costs,” Wozniak said. “It costs about $35,000 a year to house each of Michigan’s prisoners. Investing in rehabilitation rather than incarceration reduces the number of repeat offenders, improves public safety and ultimately frees up more public tax dollars to be invested in schools, roads and other critical services.”

Wozniak said no other state devotes a larger share of its budget to prisons than Michigan. In the 1970s – when Michigan’s prison population was merely 14,000 – corrections spending made up just 3 percent of the state budget. Today, about 20 percent of the general fund budget is dedicated to corrections. Michigan’s current prison population is about 39,000.

The plan has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.

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