As ‘Raise the Age’ Plan Passes, Counties Worry About Costs

Route Fifty: In Michigan, 17-year-olds can’t vote, buy cigarettes, or rent a car. But if caught by police driving while drunk or selling drugs, they are prosecuted not in juvenile court, but as adults.

Advocates for years have pushed to join other states in “raising the age” in Michigan’s criminal law to ensure that teenagers 17 and under end up in juvenile court, except when accused of the most serious crimes. Now, the Michigan legislature has passed a package of bills to make that change by October 1, 2021.

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