Over the last decade, the number of children prosecuted as adults each year has dropped from around a quarter of a million to 75,000 or less. The main driver of this drop has been the movement across the states to Raise the Age of adult court jurisdiction to 18. Michigan is the most recent state to pass such legislation, which was signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer on October 31, 2019.

The campaign leading to this landmark achievement took several years, and among the leading advocates was the Michigan Council on Crime & Delinquency, now known as the Michigan Center for Youth Justice (MCYJ).