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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Department
Criminal Justice
First Advisor
Jennifer J. Wareham
Abstract
The United States Supreme Court abolished mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles convicted of homicide offenses in Miller v. Alabama (2012). Four years later, Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016) mandated that Miller’s decision be applied retroactively, requiring states to resentence their populations of offenders serving life without parole (LWOP) for crimes committed as juveniles. In Michigan, state statute required county prosecutors to file resentencing decisions stating whether they would seek a term-of-years sentence or a continued LWOP sentence for offenders in their jurisdiction. The current study offers a descriptive profile of individuals sentenced as juveniles to LWOP (n = 189) and analyzes whether factors informed by the principles laid out in Miller predicted prosecutors’ filing decisions. Logistic regression analyses identified few, if any, distinguishing characteristics separating individuals for whom the prosecutor sought a continued LWOP sentence and those for whom the prosecutor sought a term-of-years sentence. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Ouellet, Leah Anna, "Resentencing Michigan’s Juveniles Serving Life Without Parole: An Analysis Of The Miller Factors’ Influence On Prosecutors’ Filing Decisions" (2017). Wayne State University Theses. 635.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_theses/635