The most recent figures available from the Department of Justice continue the amazing trend of declining numbers of Wisconsin juveniles being arrested each year.  Between 2009 and 2013 the number of juveniles arrested declined by over 30,000, representing a decrease of 36.3 percent.

Arrests declined in all but seven counties, and in the ten counties that account for nearly two-thirds of juvenile arrests, the rate of decline ranged from 25% in La Crosse County to over 46% in Racine County.  (You can access/create a similar chart for your county by going to the Kids Count ® Data Center and selecting Wisconsin – By County – Safety & Risky Behaviors – Juvenile Justice – Juvenile Arrests – and then select the county and years you want to track. You can also select other counties to compare your county with. Remember DOJ arrest numbers include 17 year-olds).

For many reasons we have been making the case that it is past time to return 17 year olds to the juvenile system, and it is clearer than ever that we would not overburden the system by doing so.  Each year another 10,000 17 year olds are needlessly arrested as adults – most of them ending up with an adult arrest record, many with municipal court records and fines, and some ending up in criminal court and are more likely to reoffend let alone avoid the negative consequences of an adult record.

Since the age of jurisdiction changed in 1996, there have now been well over a quarter of a million 17 year-olds arrested as adults.  We are wasting both financial and human capital by continuing down a path that almost everyone agrees is poor public policy.  Must another year go by and another 10,000 youth be pushed into a process that is neither good for them, for our communities, or for our economy?

by Jim Moeser