Every year, thousands of Wisconsin teenagers enter the adult criminal justice system before their 18th birthday. This isn’t because of what they did, but because Wisconsin law places 17-year-olds in adult criminal court. Under Wisconsin law, a 17-year-old charged with any offense, from shoplifting to disorderly conduct to drug possession, is automatically prosecuted as an adult. There isn’t any hearing or judicial review, the case simply starts and finishes in the adult system.
This means a 17-year-old who gets into a fight at school can end up with the same permanent criminal record as a 45-year-old convicted of the same offense. That record can follow them into actual adulthood, limiting their ability to find work, secure housing, pursue higher education, and enlist in the military. For many of these teenagers, a single mistake at 17 becomes a lifelong burden.
At Van Severen Law Office, our criminal defense attorneys regularly represent young people caught up in the adult system because of this law. We’ve seen the harm that these archaic laws can cause. If your child is facing criminal charges, contact us at (414) 270-0202.
How does Wisconsin law define “adult” and “juvenile”?
Wisconsin’s Juvenile Justice Code is codified in Chapter 938 of the Wisconsin Statutes. The definitions are where this gets interesting (and frustrating). Section 938.02(10m) defines “juvenile” as a person under 18, but then carves out a critical exception:
(10m) “Juvenile,” when used without further qualification, means a person who is less than 18 years of age, except that for purposes of investigating or prosecuting a person who is alleged to have violated a state or federal criminal law or any civil law or municipal ordinance, “juvenile” does not include a person who has attained 17 years of age.
Section 938.02(1) mirrors this from the other direction, defining “adult” for criminal prosecution purposes as anyone who has turned 17.
Before 1995, Wisconsin set the age of adult criminal jurisdiction at 18, consistent with most states. 1995 Wisconsin Act 77 lowered it to 17 as part of a broader wave of “tough on crime” legislation during the mid-1990s. The law’s stated purpose was to protect citizens from juvenile crime and hold each juvenile offender directly accountable while developing competency in juveniles. This reflected the broader legislative climate of the era, when juvenile violence had reached historic levels and public opinion favored harsher approaches to youth crime. At the time of passage, Wisconsin joined 13 other states in excluding 17-year-olds from juvenile court jurisdiction.
The contradiction at the heart of this law
Here’s what makes this law so difficult to defend: Wisconsin treats a 17-year-old as an adult when they’re accused of a crime, but treats them as a child in virtually every other legal context.
A 17-year-old in Wisconsin cannot vote, buy cigarettes, or enlist in the military without parental consent. The state’s own age of majority under Section 990.01(3) is 18. Wisconsin raised the legal purchasing age for tobacco and nicotine products from 18 to 21 under Senate Bill 524, aligning state law with federal requirements. The logic behind that proposal is simple: young people under 21 lack the maturity to make fully informed decisions about addictive substances. Yet the state simultaneously treats 17-year-olds as fully mature adults capable of bearing the lifelong consequences of a criminal conviction.
It gets worse. If a 17-year-old is the victim of a crime, prosecutors treat them as a child victim. But if that same 17-year-old is accused of committing a crime, even against another 17-year-old, the state treats them as a fully responsible adult. The alleged perpetrator faces adult penalties for a crime against a child, despite being the exact same age as the alleged victim.
What does neuroscience say about adolescent brains?
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly acknowledged what neuroscience has confirmed: adolescent brains are fundamentally different from adult brains, particularly in the areas that govern decision-making, impulse control, and risk assessment.
In Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), the Court struck down the death penalty for offenders who committed their crimes before turning 18. The case involved Christopher Simmons, who was 17 when he planned and committed a capital murder in Missouri. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the 5-4 majority, identified three key differences between juveniles and adults:
- Adolescents demonstrate a lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility, leading to impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions.
- Juveniles are more vulnerable to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure, because they have limited control over their own environments.
- A juvenile’s character is not as well formed as an adult’s, meaning their actions are less likely to reflect irretrievably depraved character.
The American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association both filed amicus briefs in the case, citing research showing that adolescent brains are still developing in the regions that govern judgment, impulse control, and decision-making. Longitudinal neuroimaging studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health have found that the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for these functions, does not fully mature until a person’s mid-twenties.
The Court built on Roper in Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), prohibiting life-without-parole sentences for juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses, and again in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), striking down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all juvenile offenders. Each decision reinforced the same foundational principle: children are constitutionally different from adults for purposes of sentencing. Wisconsin’s law ignores this entire body of law and science.
The Slender Man case: Wisconsin’s juvenile justice law on the national stage
Perhaps no Wisconsin case better illustrates how rigid this system is than the 2014 Slender Man stabbing in Waukesha. Two 12-year-old girls lured a classmate into the woods after a sleepover and stabbed her 19 times. The victim, Payton Leutner, survived her injuries. Both girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, were charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
Under Section 938.183 of the Wisconsin Statutes, that charge automatically placed both girls in adult court despite the fact that they were in the sixth grade. (In Wisconsin, the adult criminal court has automatic authority over children as young as 10 if they’re accused of specific serious crimes, such as attempted first-degree intentional homicide.)
Defense attorneys fought hard to move both cases to juvenile court. Psychologists called by the defense testified that the girls would receive more appropriate mental health treatment in the juvenile system. At least one defendant had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. But Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren denied the transfer after four days of hearings, concluding that the nature of the planned attack and concerns about public safety warranted keeping the cases in adult court. The defense also challenged the constitutionality of the underlying statute. The judge denied that motion, too. Geyser later appealed the adult court ruling to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and lost again.
This law impacts thousands of Wisconsin teenagers every year
The Slender Man case represents the extreme end. The broader pattern affects thousands of teenagers every year on far less serious charges. According to the Raise the Age Wisconsin coalition, Wisconsin law enforcement made approximately 35,000 arrests of people under 18 in 2019. Nearly 9,000 of those arrests involved 17-year-olds, all of whom entered the adult system automatically. Many of these cases involved non-violent offenses: disorderly conduct, theft, drug possession, and underage drinking. Other states handle these cases through juvenile courts focused on rehabilitation.
The consequences for these young people follow them permanently. Unlike juvenile records, which can often be sealed or expunged, an adult criminal conviction stays on a 17-year-old’s record for life. It can disqualify them from employment, housing, educational opportunities, financial aid, and military service. Wisconsin does allow for expungement of certain offenses carrying a maximum penalty of 6 years or less, committed by defendants under age 25, under Section 973.015. But this doesn’t cover all crimes and requires successful completion of the sentence.
Research from the CDC’s Task Force on Community Preventive Service shows that youth processed through the adult system had a 34 percent higher rate of recidivism compared to youth retained in the juvenile system.
How does the rest of the country handle this?
Wisconsin is one of only three states that still automatically charge 17-year-olds as adults. Georgia and Texas are the other two. Eleven states have raised the age since 2007, and every other state now sends 17-year-olds to juvenile court by default. Each time, the same evidence drove the change: developmental science, lower recidivism data, and fiscal analyses showing that juvenile-system processing costs less than adult incarceration over time.
Connecticut pioneered the modern movement in 2007, phasing in 16-year-olds in 2010 and 17-year-olds in 2012. The results were striking. Juvenile crime dropped 40% and court referrals fell 63%. The state closed its only youth prison in 2018. A predicted $100 million cost increase never materialized; juvenile justice spending actually came in $2 million less than before the change.
Texas, which still treats 17-year-olds as adults, provides its own case for reform. County juvenile probation departments achieve an 82 percent success rate, compared to a 42 percent revocation rate within two years for 17-year-olds on adult probation.
Why hasn’t Wisconsin changed this law?
Advocates have pushed to raise the age in Wisconsin for more than a decade. The effort has repeatedly stalled in the legislature.
Senate Bill 308 and Assembly Bill 378, introduced in the 2013 session, were early significant attempts. Known as the “Second Chance” bills, they would have returned first-time, non-violent 17-year-old offenders to the juvenile justice system while keeping violent offenses in adult court. Both bills passed their respective committees unanimously but were never scheduled for a floor vote due to cost concerns.
Governor Tony Evers included a provision to raise the age from 17 to 18 in his 2019-2021 budget proposal and proposed it again in his 2021-2023 budget. Republican lawmakers rejected both proposals.
The core legislative concept is straightforward. It would amend the Juvenile Justice Code to restore juvenile court jurisdiction over all 17-year-olds while preserving the ability of prosecutors to waive serious cases into adult court. This mirrors how 47 other states already operate. Seventeen-year-olds start in the juvenile system, but waiver provisions allow the most serious cases to move to adult court when a judge determines it’s appropriate.
The legislation has bipartisan support in concept, but has never gained enough momentum to reach the governor’s desk. Opponents cite concerns about costs and county-level capacity. Proponents counter that states that have raised the age report improved public safety outcomes and that community-based rehabilitation is generally less expensive than adult confinement. The Raise the Age Wisconsin coalition continues to press the issue.
Contact Van Severen Law Office to speak with our criminal defense attorneys about your child’s adult criminal charges: (414) 270-0202
If your child is 17 and facing criminal charges in Wisconsin, they enter the adult system with no mechanism to transfer to juvenile court. That doesn’t mean their age is irrelevant. Judges retain discretion at sentencing, and a skilled criminal defense attorney can present mitigating evidence related to a defendant’s youth, developmental stage, and potential for rehabilitation. The most important step a parent can take is to contact an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately. Early intervention gives your attorney the best chance to negotiate favorable outcomes, challenge the evidence, or pursue alternatives to conviction that minimize the long-term impact on your child’s future.
At Van Severen Law Office, we defend young people facing criminal charges throughout Wisconsin. We handle violent crime, drug crime, domestic violence, and every other type of criminal case. We understand the unique challenges these cases present, and we fight aggressively to protect our clients’ futures. If your 17-year-old son or daughter has been charged with a crime, contact us immediately at (414) 270-0202 for a free consultation.