KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Hundreds of Michigan prison inmates, who were convicted of murder as juveniles, may be resentenced and possibly released.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned decades of legal precedent by ruling that mandatory “life without parole” prison sentences for juvenile defendants are unconstitutional – as they violate the eight amendments prohibition of “cruel and unusual” punishment.
Then, in late July, the Michigan Supreme Court took that a step further and ordered that the case files of juveniles convicted of second degree murder and give long prison sentences must also be reviewed…