Short answer: Yes. Michigan charges minors with sexual offenses, and there is no exception for two teenagers in a relationship. Most cases proceed in the family division of circuit court, where diversion and consent calendar options can resolve a matter without an adjudication — but the exposure on paper can be felony exposure.
Where a Juvenile Case Goes
Cases involving minors normally proceed in the family division of circuit court rather than adult criminal court, though Michigan permits waiver to adult court in serious matters. Which track a case takes is one of the first and most consequential decisions, and it is contested.
Sexting Is the Most Common Version of This
Michigan has not enacted a separate, lesser offence for teenage sexting. Where anyone depicted is under 18, explicit images fall under MCL 750.145c as child sexually abusive material — a felony — even when both parties are teenagers who sent the images willingly. See Michigan sexting laws.
What Changes the Outcome
- Diversion and the consent calendar, which can resolve a case without an adjudication on the record
- HYTA for a qualifying young adult, avoiding a public conviction
- Negotiating away the registrable count — the single most valuable outcome, because the registry is what follows a young person into adulthood
- Charging discretion — a mitigation package presented before charges are authorised can stop a case being filed at all
What Parents Should Do First
Do not let your child explain themselves to a school official or a school resource officer — SROs are police, and statements made at school end up in reports. Do not delete anything. Call before the interview, not after. Related: solicitation of a minor and child sexually abusive material.
Juvenile Court Works Differently
The family division is not simply a gentler version of adult court. Its stated purpose is rehabilitative, the terminology differs — a petition rather than a complaint, an adjudication rather than a conviction — and the range of dispositions is wider.
That creates real openings. The consent calendar can resolve a matter without a formal adjudication at all. Diversion can end a case with conditions and no record of adjudication. Both depend on early engagement, before positions harden.
Waiver to Adult Court
Michigan permits serious juvenile cases to be waived into adult court, and prosecutors can also elect to proceed against certain older juveniles in adult court directly.
Resisting that is often the most consequential fight in the case, because it determines the sentencing framework, the record that results, and the registration consequences. It is litigated on the youth’s history, the circumstances of the offence, and the rehabilitative prospects — which means the mitigation package assembled in the first weeks does real work.
The Registry and Young People
Registration is the consequence that follows a young person furthest, affecting school, housing, athletics, college admission and employment for decades.
Michigan provides some limited relief for young registrants whose offence involved consensual conduct with a small age gap, and juvenile adjudications are treated differently from adult convictions. Neither is automatic, and both are worth pursuing deliberately rather than hoping for.
Frequently Asked Questions
At what age can a child be charged with a sex offence in Michigan?
There is no fixed minimum in practice; cases involving quite young children are handled through the family division, where the emphasis is on services rather than punishment.
Will my child go on the sex offender registry?
It depends on the offence, whether the case stays in the family division, and how it is resolved. Avoiding a registrable outcome is normally the central objective.
Can two teenagers both be charged?
Yes. Where both parties are minors, both can face petitions — which happens regularly in sexting cases under MCL 750.145c.
Does my child have to talk to the school resource officer?
No, and they should not. A school resource officer is a police officer, and statements made at school appear in police reports.
Will this stay on my child’s record forever?
Juvenile records follow different rules from adult convictions and are often easier to address later, which is another reason keeping a case in the family division matters.
Related Pages
Talk to Me Before You Talk to Anyone Else
If you are under investigation or have been charged, the decisions you make in the first days matter more than almost anything that happens later. Do not speak to police, do not contact the complainant, and do not delete anything. Call me at 616-438-6719 — the consultation is free and I answer 24/7, across Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Muskegon, Newaygo and Van Buren counties.