Kids Sentenced to Die in Prison

For over a decade, the ACLU has fought against Michigan’s cruel policy of allowing youth to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2010 we filed a class action lawsuit in federal court challenging the practice as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, resulting in a 2018 victory allowing hundreds of youth to be considered for early release and an eventual settlement in 2020. In 2021 and 2022 we joined the Juvenile Law Center in filing friend-of-the-court briefs in multiple cases that had reached the Michigan Supreme Court. In a series of opinions released in July 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed with our position that the Michigan Constitution provides greater protections to youth facing life sentences. The Court held that a life sentence cannot be automatic for 18-year-olds, and judges must consider their youth at sentencing like they would for those under 18. The Court also held that for children charged with lesser, second-degree offenses, a life sentence (including with the possibility of parole) is categorically unconstitutional and cannot be imposed. Finally, in cases where prosecutors are still allowed to seek life-without-parole sentences for youth, the Court held that they must meet a “clear and convincing evidence” burden of proof. Hundreds of youth will now be eligible for resentencing based on these new, more protective, constitutional rules. In November 2023 we filed another friend-of-the-court brief in the Michigan Supreme Court urging the court to eliminate life without the possibility of parole sentences for juveniles once and for all. In 2024, we filed three additional friend-of-the-court briefs in cases before the Michigan Supreme Court. In a series of decisions issued in April 2025, the Court again agreed with our position and held that mandatory life without parole sentences for individuals aged 19 and 20 are unconstitutional and that youth must be considered at the time of their sentencing. The Court also extended its prior holding in People v. Parks to any 18-year-old in the past who was subject to mandatory life without parole. As a result the Court’s decisions garnered even greater protections for hundreds of Michigan youth who were previously subject to this unconstitutional death sentence. (Hill v. Snyder; People v. Poole; People v. Stovall; People v. Taylor; People v. Paredes; People v. Czarnecki; People v. Taylor; ACLU of Michigan Attorneys Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio and Dan Korobkin; National ACLU Attorneys Steven Watt and Brandon Buskey; Co-counsel Marsha Levick, Riya Saha Shah, and Andrew Keats of the Juvenile Law Center, Tessa Bialek and Sarah Russell of Quinnipiac University School of Law, Elizabeth Komar and Becky Feldman of The Sentencing Project, and Deborah LaBelle.)