If you're 17 and you commit a crime in Michigan, you are automatically sentenced as an adult. You can't even vote yet, and you're sentenced as an adult. There are only nine states that try 17-year olds as adults, and Michigan is one of them. According to The Marshall Project, there seems to be some momentum to "raise the age" of an adult from 17 to 18 in North Carolina, New York and Wisconsin. Michigan seems to be among the holdouts.
Michigan's prison system is very expensive, and it disproportionately impacts young black men and women. We have the second highest number of juveniles locked up in prison for life, second only to Pennsylvania. (If you missed our State of Opportunity special on juvenile justice, I urge you to take a listen.)
For more on this article by Jennifer Guarra please see this link: http://stateofopportunity.mich...e-just-around-corner
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