The U.S. Supreme Court today outlawed the sentencing of juveniles to life in prison without parole. Michigan has the nation's second highest number of such cases.
The 5-4 decision by the high court is in line with earlier rulings, including banning the death penalty for juveniles, as well as life without parole for young people whose crimes did not involve a killing.
Jeff Gerritt of the Free Press writes that the Supreme Court decision on cruel and unusual punishment will finally dismantle Michigan’s barbaric juvenile lifer law, which forces judges to give kids as young as 14 — an age when they cannot legally drive or buy a pack of cigarettes — the maximum adult penalty for first-degree murder, with no chance for parole.
With more than 2,500 juvenile lifers, the United States is alone in handing down mandatory life sentences to children, according to Human Rights Watch. Michigan has more than 350. All of the cases involve murder, but about half of the convictions in Michigan were for aiding and abetting the crime.
