Juvenile Trends

The U. S. Supreme Court has ruled that its 2012 ban on automatic life sentences without parole for those who committed crimes as juveniles must be applied retroactively.  The ruling means more than 350 Michigan prisoners sentenced for crimes committed when they were 16 or younger may be considered for parole. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette had filed a brief opposing retroactivity. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the automatic life sentences with no chance of parole represented cruel and unusual punishment for juveniles because their brains are not fully developed.  At that time, the court did not [...]

The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) and the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA), will provide technical assistance to up to three agencies to implement the new Youth in Custody Practice Model. The initiative assists state and county juvenile correctional agencies in establishing a comprehensive service delivery approach for youth in residential care. CJJR, CJCA, and a team of experts will provide training and technical assistance to put research-based principles into practice and improve outcomes for youth, families, staff, and communities. The initiative focuses on these key areas: Case planning. Facility-based services (e.g., education, behavioral health, behavior management, [...]

In an editorial headlined "Raise the Age," the Detroit News supported legislative efforts aimed at treating juvenile offenders differently than adults and giving them the best chance to become productive, law-abiding adults. "The mission in dealing with juveniles should be to rehabilitate, not simply to punish. But teens who are tried and sentenced as adults rarely leave prison as rehabilitated, productive citizens. Too often, the system turns out more hardened criminals," the News said. The legislative package raises the age of automatic adult court jurisdiction from 17 to 18, which would put Michigan in line with most other states. [...]

Mary Beth Kelly, chair of the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice, voiced her support of legislation to treat more young people in the juvenile justice system, rather than the adult criminal justice system. The House Criminal Justice Committee held a hearing on December 1 on a package of bills that would raise the age of automatic adult court jurisdiction from 17 to 18, and make other changes to ensure that juveniles are treated differently than adults when they commit crimes in most cases. The legislation would also raise the state reimbursement in the state Child Care Fund to pay [...]

Bipartisan legislation has been announced to permit 17-year-olds to be processed in Michigan's juvenile courts, rather than automatically prosecuted as adults. Michigan is one of only nine states that continue to automatically treat 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system.  In the past decade, more than 20,000 youth under 18 have been convicted as adults, mostly for non-violent offenses with no prior juvenile record, according to research by the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency (MCCD). The Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice supports raising the age for automatic adult prosecution to age 18. Other bills in the package would eliminate [...]

New information on juvenile arrests and juvenile arrest rates in Michigan in 2013 is now available on this Web site.  The data are broken down by type of crime and gender, age, and race.  It includes arrest information for the state as a whole and for each county. You can find the juvenile arrest data here.  The juvenile arrest rate data are here.  For more information about the data that is available on this Web site, click here.

Michigan juveniles convicted in adult courts have the right to let a jury decide sentences when they face the possibility of a life sentence with no possibility of parole, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.  The ruling is expected to be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. The appellate court's 2-1 ruling came in a case involving the conviction of a Yale woman for first-degree murder in the death of his father.  The defendant was 17 at the time. The majority ruled that when offenders were 17 years old or younger, juries should only hand out life-without-parole sentences [...]

The Detroit News recently published an editorial calling for strong state efforts to protect juvenile offenders and keep them out of prison. The editorial supports the juvenile justice agenda of Governor Rick Snyder, including efforts to provide home-based and community-based treatment programs rather than lock juveniles up.  Diversion programs in Livingston County, the News reports, led to a 66% reduction in the number of days youth spent in out-of-home placements from 2011 to 2014. "State and local officials should invest in programs that have proven track records," the editorial concludes. "This is the best way to keep young offenders [...]

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly, who chairs the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice, announced she is stepping down from the high court on Oct. 1.  She will remain as chair of the MCJJ and plans to focus more attention on juvenile justice. Justice Kelly has been a champion of effective and equitable juvenile justice. She cochaired the Michigan Coalition for Race Equity in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice. Earlier this year, she was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder as chair of the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice. In an interview with Gongwer News Service, Justice Kelly noted [...]

Governor Rick Snyder wants more youth put into diversion programs, rather than the juvenile justice system, to improve their chances of success as youths and adults. The governor called for juvenile justice reforms in his special message on criminal justice on May 18. The major proposals in juvenile justice include: Making diversion from the juvenile justice system and into treatment programs the default approach. Encouraging counties to consider best practices and evidence-based research to guide decisions on how to place youth. Establishing a grant program to support efforts to expand and improve treatment programs and in-home support. Developing quality [...]