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The Michigan Senate may soon consider a House-passed trio of bills that sponsors say will give youthful offenders a better break when it comes to criminal conviction records.
The bills amend the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, a law designed to allow those offenders a chance to turn their lives around without the stigma of a criminal conviction. Among other things, the bills ease age thresholds to allow those up to age 23 to be eligible. Currently it’s 21.
Sponsors see the measure as a way to give young offenders a better chance at a job later on and in the long run could ease the cost of Michigan’s prison system.
The bills also allow a court to require a person assigned to youthful trainee status to maintain employment or attend a high school, high school equivalency program, community college, college, university, or trade school.
They also allow a court to subject the trainee to electronic monitoring during the probationary term if the offense had been committed on or after the individual’s 21st birthday.
