Snyder Signs Juvenile Lifers Law

Governor Rick Snyder has signed into law legislation bringing Michigan into at least partial compliance with the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring automatic sentences of life in prison without possibility of parole for juveniles. The nation’s highest court ruled such sentences violated the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Under the bills, prosecutors can request that a judge sentence a juvenile defendant to life in prison without parole. If the prosecutor does not do so, then the judge can issue a sentence of between 25-60 years in prison.