Some Juvenile Sentences Impermissibly Cruel, Michigan Court Says

Some decades-long sentences for Michigan juveniles constitute cruel or unusual punishment under the state constitution, a divided appeals court said in a ruling that could give hope to some prisoners serving time for crimes committed when they were underage.

Sentences like the one received by appellant James Eads—who’s serving 50-to-75 years in prison for second-degree murder, a conviction handed down more than three decades ago when he was under 18 years old—are more punitive than a life sentence for the same charge, Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Philip P. Mariani said. Had Eads been sentenced to life, he would ...