A conservative case to ‘raise the age’ in Michigan
In recent years, conservative policymakers in states across the nation have come to question whether the one-sizefits-all “tough on crime” approaches adopted in the 1980s and 1990s are still effective long-term solutions to improve public safety. Prison overcrowding and high recidivism rates have prompted state and federal lawmakers to rethink criminal-justice policy and examine ways to reduce excessive mandatory-minimum sentences, improve indigent defense, curtail civil-asset forfeiture and expand prisoner reentry programs. The efforts to date have been promising, as measured by their ability to alleviate state budgetary pressures without compromising public safety.
Another important goal of criminal-justice reform, generally overlooked by conservatives, should be to address inequities within the juvenile-justice system. Too often, children who aren’t old enough to buy cigarettes legally nonetheless are thrust automatically into an adult penal system ill-suited to the unique challenges and opportunities teenagers present.
Under current law in New York and North Carolina, 16-year-olds who are arrested are tried in adult criminal court without exception. Michigan is one of seven states to prescribe the same rules for 17-year-olds. The other 41 states treat 18 as the youngest age to try individuals as adults. These other states frequently have policies that would permit at least some juveniles to be tried in adult criminal court and sentenced to regular prisons for certain serious crimes.”. But the default policy is first to steer juvenile delinquents toward rehabilitation, and generally to pair any form of detention with educational and rehabilitative services.
States that are unwilling to enact a rehabilitation-focused approach to juvenile offenders face myriad unintended consequences, for individuals, families and communities. This policy study explores some of those consequences and contrasts them with the benefits (economic, as well as personal) that “raise the age” juvenile-justice reform can create.
