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Michigan has more so-called “juvenile lifers” than almost any other state in the country. More than a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled automatic life without parole sentences for juveniles violated the Constitution, the vast majority of those people have received a new, lighter sentence.
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Hundreds of people sentenced to life without parole as juveniles have now been released. In most cases, they’ve gone on to live completely ordinary lives that they had no reason to believe were possible for them.
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Michigan's Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform was established in June 2021 with a goal of recommending changes to the state's juvenile justice system.
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In early October, Warren-Gibbs traveled to Lansing to support legislation that would outlaw life-without-parole sentences for people younger than 19 in Michigan. It appears unlikely the bills will get a vote before lawmakers adjourn for the year. But Warren-Gibbs said it’s the job of adults to protect children.
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Michigan sentenced over 360 minors to life without parole — more than any state except Pennsylvania. Half of them have now been released and 90% have been resentenced, in most cases to a finite length of time.
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The state House Criminal Justice Committee opened hearings Tuesday on legislation that could allow parole for people sentenced to life in prison when they were teenagers.
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Bills scheduled for a Michigan House committee hearing Tuesday would ban life prison sentences for anyone aged 18 and under.
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The bills would also set new minimum and maximum sentences (10 and 60 years) for people under 19. And they would allow for a parole review after ten years served, “where the incapacity of youth must be considered.”
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The appeal was rooted in a court ruling that mandatory life without parole for 18-year-olds is unconstitutional because a teenager’s brain is not fully developed. The court rejected the argument that the same should be held true for 21-year-olds and held Michigan’s sentencing law is not “cruel or unusual.”