Dear John,
Last week, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a mandatory life without parole (LWOP) sentence issued to an 18-year-old because factors such as Kemo Knicombi Parks’s young age, maturity level, and prior trauma were not accounted for at sentencing. This decision builds on recent rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court which limited life without parole sentences for people under 18.
The Sentencing Project has been following these developments with great interest; our Campaign Strategist Alexandra Bailey has been on the ground in Michigan pushing for “Second Look” legislation that would allow individuals sentenced for crimes committed under 26 to seek a sentence review after serving ten years in prison.
As a result of this ruling, Parks is entitled to a resentencing hearing for a lower court to consider the attributes of youth as factors in determining the length of his sentence. Michigan now joins Washington State and the District of Columbia in extending to some emerging adults the U.S. Supreme Court’s precedent invalidating mandatory LWOP for youth under 18.
According to The Sentencing Project’s research, 300 Michiganders are serving LWOP sentences for first and second degree homicides committed when they were 18-years-old. On average, this population has served 26 years of their sentence so far, with some serving as long as 57 years. Nearly 80% are Black, a staggering racial disparity by any standard.
While the ruling still allows 18-year-olds in Michigan to be sentenced to life without parole and other extreme sentences, it acknowledges the importance of second chances and proportionality of punishment in our laws and our criminal legal system.
