Michigan | Detroit Organization Description: Detroit Heals Detroit is a youth-led healing space committed to combating trauma and transforming pain into joy, liberation, and community power. Detroit Heals Detroit offers after-school programming and summer camps for young people 12-18 years old. Additionally, the organization holds space and programming for young adults ages 18-26 years old.…
This resource calls for youth defense teams to tap into the knowledge, strength and insight of lived-experience experts, integrating them into the team as a necessary voice for young people. From the resource: “Youth defenders can tap into lived‑experience expertise by recognizing it as professional expertise, integrating it structurally into defense practice, and engaging experts…
The 1st District Court of Appeals in Michigan reversed a trial court’s denial of a youth’s motion to suppress, finding that the police lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct a search because there was no basis to believe that the youth was armed. The court stated in relevant part: Officers responded to “a weapons call from…
Michigan | Detroit Metro Area Organization Description: InsideOut Detroit is a literary non-profit dedicated to transforming the lives of young people through written and spoken word. Through in-school, after-school, and community-based programs, young people have the opportunity to share their voice and express themselves creatively with the help of professional writers and poets. Program Description: InsideOut…
Michigan | Detroit Organization Description: Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan (DAYUM) is a youth-led organization that builds and implements strategic youth-led campaigns across the state of Michigan. DAYUM offers an infrastructure for youth organizing to ensure youth voices are included in key decision-making processes that impact youth and their communities. DAYUM works across a variety of…
The Michigan Supreme Court granted a motion to ensure that case captions referred to a youth by their initials, as opposed to their full name, in line with statutory privacy interests for youth in the state. The court stated in relevant part: Chapter 12A of the Probate Code, MCL 712A.1 through MCL 712A.32, governs the…
The Supreme Court of Michigan overturned and vacated Mr. Langston’s conviction in part and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings, finding that the imposition of mandatory LWOP for pre-Aaron felony-murder convictions constitutes cruel or unusual punishment under Article 1, § 16 of the Michigan Constitution. The court reasoned in part, “[S]ignificant jurisprudential…
The 1st District Court of Appeals of Michigan vacated a life without parole sentence following a felony murder conviction, finding that trial counsel was ineffective by failing to raise mitigating evidence on adolescent brain development and childhood trauma and abuse. The court stated in relevant part: Appellate counsel obtained a mitigation expert, Mary Cuddehe, to…
The 1st District Court of Appeals vacated a sentence involving, finding that the trial court failed to properly consider youthfulness at the time of offense as a mitigating factor. The court stated in relevant part: “Defendant argues that the trial court again failed to properly consider his youth at the time of the offense as…
This infographic on Positive Childhood Experiences from the Children Trust Michigan and The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services outlines the impact of ACES on the health and well-being of adults in Michigan. From the infographic: “Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) are the everyday moments and relationships that help children feel safe, supported and connected. These…
The Michigan 1st District Court of Appeals vacated second-degree murder and assault with the intent to commit murder sentences for an individual who was 18 years old at the time of the incident and remanded with instructions for the trial court to consider youthfulness and its attendant characteristics as mitigating factors. The court stated in…
The Supreme Court of Michigan held that the trial court’s analysis of Appellant’s case pursuant to the Miller factors and resentencing to LWOP was improper and remanded the case for reconsideration under the proper framework. The court stated in relevant part: “Notably, as defendant identifies, the trial court relied on the fact that defendant has…
This infographic on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) from the Children Trust Michigan and The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services outlines the impact of ACES on the health and well-being of adults in Michigan. From the infographic: “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic experiences that occur before the age of 18. ACEs can…
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On April 10, 2025, the Supreme Court of Michigan extended its 2022 decision in People v. Parks, which declared mandatory life without parole (LWOP) for 18-year-olds unconstitutional, to also apply to 19- and 20-year-olds. Relying on the state’s constitutional prohibition against “cruel or unusual punishment,” the Court found that mandatory LWOP for 19- and 20-years…
On February 28, 2025, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court’s denial of a racial justice expert violated a young person’s due process rights to present a defense. This case involved an altercation between two middle school students involving the use of a racial slur and other racially derogatory comments. Defense counsel…
From the conclusion: “For the reasons discussed, Miller and its progeny have rendered Eads’s term-of-years sentence invalid under both the Michigan Constitution and our state’s proportionality requirement. He is entitled to be resentenced in a manner that comports with this jurisprudence and duly accounts for his youth and its attendant characteristics at the time he…
In this amicus brief (and a companion brief filed in Michigan v. Andrew Czarnecki), Fair and Just Prosecution urges the Michigan Supreme Court to extend 19- and 20-year olds its finding that life without parole sentences for young people violate state and federal constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
This amicus brief by forty developmental science scholars and nonprofits argues transformative growth during ages 18-20 makes mandatory LWOP for individuals in that age range a disproportionate sentence in violation of Article 1, Section 16 of the Michigan constitution. From the Summary of the Argument: “People v Parks held that Article 1, Section 16…
The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s suppression of NC’s statements, finding that the interview conducted of NC in the principal’s office by the Chief of Police was custodial and required Miranda warnings. The court stated in relevant part: “These facts sufficiently support that Nelson subjected NC to a custodial interrogation. Specifically, the…
In People v. Stovall, the Michigan Supreme Court vacated Stovall’s sentence of a parolable life sentence for second-degree murder finding it violated Article 1, Section 16 of the Michigan constitution prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The court offered the following language in support: “The Michigan Constitution, however, is different. Article 1, § 16 of the Michigan Constitution provides that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be…
