Wisconsin is one of 13 states that automatically place 17-year-olds in the adult criminal justice system, and has been so since 1996. Since then approximately 250,000 17 year-olds have been arrested, 75,000 of whom spent time in adult incarceration facilities (statistics from the nonprofit Wisconsin Council on Children and Families).
As always there are those who are willing to thump the drum for harsher penalties, neglecting the financial and social realities involved. Julie Strupp of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism takes note of this in her recent coverage of the situation in The Wisconsin State Journal:
Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, an outspoken supporter of keeping 17-year-olds in the adult system, said the law has worked well for 15 years. Ultimately, any age set for automatic consideration as an adult for criminal prosecution will be arbitrary, he said, and 17 is a good place to draw that line.
“What concerns me is making sure the victim gets justice,” Vos said. “We coddled (17-year-olds) in the past, and that didn’t work. If we treat them like an adult, hopefully they won’t offend.”
Many researchers disagree, citing a growing body of neurological and statistical evidence suggesting Wisconsin’s policy is counterproductive. But they and other advocates are finding themselves stymied, in part because of concerns over cost.
Here we hit a bottom line I see all too often in my research, money. In some cases it’s strained budgets, in others it’s profit motive. In this case it seems more of the former. Strupp continues:
It costs about $50 a day to house a jail inmate and about $87 a day to house a state prison inmate, while the daily cost in juvenile facilities ranges from $140 to $215, a fiscal analysis from the Department of Corrections shows.
The Wisconsin County Human Service Association, the group representing local human services departments, estimates putting 17-year-olds back in the juvenile system would collectively cost the state’s 72 counties an additional $75 million a year.
Strained state coffers and a $75 million short term saving. It’s easy to see how attractive that could be in the game of politics. Long term, however, is another story. Numerous studies have demonstrated that minors in adult facilities have higher rates of recidivism than their counterparts in the juvenile system. Not only that but they also offend in more serious ways. Think about that. Now think about the 75,000 17 year-olds who have spent their time in adult facilities since 1996.
Also casting doubt on the efficacy of the current approach is recent neurological evidence which suggests young people don’t have the same capacity to evaluate or appreciate the consequences of their actions. This makes subjecting them to the adult criminal justice system even more unfair.
State Rep. Fred Kessler, D-Milwaukee, has tried for three legislative sessions to fight these laws. He is responsible for the introduction of a bill that would place 17 year-olds back in the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts. This year he plans to offer it again. Let us wish him luck!
Image Source: Zonie_Zambonie on Flickr, used under its Creative Commons license
