Seventeen-year-olds sent to adult prison or put on probation are far more likely to go back to prison than both younger teens tried in the juvenile system and adults, according to a government report released Friday.

Legislation is currently in the works that would move 17-year-olds to the juvenile system in most cases, except for the most violent offenses.

The review was developed by the Legislative Audit Bureau to gather information surrounding 17-year-olds within the criminal justice system and covered topics from arrests to reincarceration rates to the programming and services provided.

According to the review, about 48 percent of 17-year-olds were reincarcerated within three years of their release in 2002, while only about 21 percent of adults were. Other juveniles had about a 27 percent reincarceration rate after four years.

Seventeen-year-olds were also more likely than adult offenders to be put on probation rather than sent to prison ? with more than 90 percent put on probation ? but fewer than 50 percent of them successfully completed their probation, according to the report.

?This says to me that 17-year-olds sentenced in adult court could be getting lighter punishment than if they were sentenced in juvenile court where they potentially would be placed in a juvenile facility, receive treatment, thereby reducing the recidivism rate significantly,? Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz, R-Menomonee Falls, said in a statement.

The report showed almost 30 percent of the cases filed against 17-year-olds from 2002 to 2006 were property crimes, while crimes against persons, like assault, accounted for only 5 percent.

Seventeen-year-olds have been subject to adult criminal court jurisdiction in Wisconsin since 1996, but a proposal authored by Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, aims to move them back to the juvenile system.

?The proposal would take nonviolent offenders out of the adult criminal court system, and put them in the juvenile court system that would give them access to services like drug and alcohol abuse treatment,? said Julie Laundrie, spokesperson for Erpenbach.

Laundrie said the report?s findings support the motivation for the legislation.

?We know that 17-year-olds that are in the adult system are much more likely to reoffend, and the audit supports this,? she said.

Wendy Henderson, a policy analyst for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, has also been involved in crafting the legislation.

?I think the recent release of the audit confirms everything we?ve known for a long time,? Henderson said. ?The 17-year-olds are just getting the worst deal in the system right now.?

While spending for the adult prison system takes place primarily at a state level, the juvenile system is funded by counties. The report estimates it would cost counties about $53.5 million to return 17-year-olds to juvenile court jurisdiction.

While a portion of this cost would be made up in savings to the adult prison system, according to the report, there would still be a significant cost for counties.

Erpenbach?s proposal currently includes a 1 percent sales tax on video games and video game consoles to alleviate some of this cost, but Laundrie said it is not the whole solution, and has said Erpenbach ?isn?t married to that idea.?

?We?ve never thought it would generate all the money needed in the proposal, but it?s in there right now,? Laundrie said. ?It will likely be replaced.?

But Laundrie said because the counties oppose the legislation unless it comes with funding, Erpenbach remains committed to finding a revenue stream.

Laundrie said one of the options presented in the report, phasing-in the change incrementally, remains an option and would alleviate some of the strain on counties by making the change gradually.