By David Eggert
Associated Press
LANSING (AP) - Seventeen-year-olds can't vote, drop out of school or buy cigarettes in Michigan. But they're automatically prosecuted, sentenced and locked up as adults if they commit a crime.
That could change after a bipartisan push to raise Michigan's age for adult offenders from 17 to 18 received a major lift in the Legislature. The Republican-controlled House approved a 20-bill package last Wednesday and Thursday; every bill won support from at least 90 members of the 110-seat chamber.
"Seventeen-year-olds are not adults," said Rep. Harvey Santana, D-Detroit, who spearheaded the effort in the House. "Michigan laws are outdated and go against national best practices."
Michigan is among just nine states whose default is to treat 17-year-olds as adults in criminal proceedings. Fourteen- to 16-year-olds can be sentenced as adults in juvenile court or waived into adult court in some cases.
The legislation would define 17-year-olds as juveniles and make other changes. Those include prohibiting children under 18 from being detained in adult facilities - even if they are segregated from older offenders - and no longer requiring judges to put extra weight on the seriousness of a crime and a juvenile's prior record when considering if the offender should be sentenced as an adult.
Another bill would require the state Corrections Department to develop policies ensuring that inmates under 21 are released from their cell each day and allowed outdoor exercise at least five days a week, including those in solitary confinement.
Supporters say the legislation is the latest part of the House's aggressive "smart justice" agenda to overhaul tough-on-crime policies enacted in the 1980s and 1990s.
"When you put 17-year-olds into the adult prison system, you end up with better criminals, more recidivism and more hardened individuals who will only come back to repeat and increase crime in our streets," said Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth.
The bills' fate is uncertain primarily because of concerns over shifting state costs onto counties. The House delayed the effective date until October 2018 and included $500,000 in its budget plan for a state study on the unknown financial implications. One bill would direct the state to cover counties' increased juvenile justice spending in the future, if the funding is authorized.
But county officials and prosecutors remain opposed to the legislation. They say it is foolish to make such a big policy leap before adequately addressing the cost and a host of questions such as where to house 17-year-olds at the time of arrest and, in some counties, the need to expand juvenile rehabilitation programs.
Ninety-five percent of all Michigan youth entering jail, prison or probation are 17 at the time of their offense, according to a 2014 report by the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency.
"We know the trend across the nation is to raise the age. But our concern is, 'Are there options available to deal with the 17-year-old who commits a major felony offense or a violent offense in the juvenile court system?'" said St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling, the president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.
In legislative testimony, former state Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly said some counties have exceptional programs to help juvenile offenders while others simply allow them to be placed under the Corrections Department - essentially because prison costs are entirely borne by the state.
The House proposal would retain prosecutors' authority to ask a judge for a waiver to try juveniles in adult court in felony cases, and in cases such as murder, rape and armed robbery, automatically designate juveniles to the adult system without judicial approval.
Keeping intact those options alleviates some of law enforcement's worries. But Wendling said concerns remain about how to treat 17-year-olds with serious offenses who should not share a cell with a "50-year-old sex offender" or a 14-year-old "status offender" - those in juvenile detention for running away from home or curfew violations.
"This is a significant enough change in law that we need to have a plan," he said.
The bills will next will be considered by the GOP-led Senate, which has balked at another major House-passed bill that is designed to release more inmates once they serve their minimum sentence. Asked if Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof supports classifying 17-year-olds as juveniles, spokeswoman Amber McCann said Republican senators need to discuss the topic.
Among those backing the legislation are ex-prisoners who were 17 at the time of their crime.
Toni Bunton served 17 years for second-degree murder after being the getaway driver in a marijuana deal that ended in a shooting. She said she was raped and assaulted, including by male guards.
Then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm commuted her 25- to 50-year sentence in 2008, and Bunton was part of a $100 million settlement between the state and hundreds of female inmates.
"Please consider that the kids that end up in the system come from mostly poor areas, and they come from areas where they have adults who hurt them or neglect them," she told lawmakers in December. "What I did - my crime - I hurt families, I hurt the victims, I hurt my own family and I hurt my community. I deserved to be punished. But I did not deserve to be put in adult facilities and jails where I was abused for years."
Published: Tue, May 03, 2016
