Pam Oliver, a sociology professor at UW-Madison who studies incarceration, said she believes cost is the driving force behind keeping 17-year-olds in the adult system. ?Honestly, it saves the state a lot of money,? Oliver said. ?The money is what?s really going on.? Nonetheless, the policy of automatically trying minors in adult court is declining across the United States as new evidence emerges challenging these ?tough on crime? approaches.
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