A Retreat from the Harshest Punishments for Emerging Adult Defendants

To com­mem­o­rate the 20^th anniver­sary of the United States Supreme Court deci­sion that end­ed the juve­nile death penal­ty, DPI will release a report exam­in­ing the lega­cy of this deci­sion and its impli­ca­tions for emerg­ing adults. This arti­cle exam­ines one area of focus in the report: recent state courts deci­sions that have extend­ed legal pro­tec­tions to emerg­ing adults ages 18 to 20. 

In 2012, in Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court empha­sized that ​“youth mat­ters” in deter­min­ing the appro­pri­ate­ness of a sen­tence and rec­og­nized that evolv­ing con­tem­po­rary stan­dards demand greater pro­tec­tions for young peo­ple from society’s harsh­est pun­ish­ments. State courts are now mak­ing sim­i­lar acknowl­edge­ments with respect to ​“emerg­ing adults.” Since 2021, three state supreme courts – Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington – have restrict­ed or pro­hib­it­ed sen­tences of life with­out parole (LWOP) for emerg­ing adults. Massachusetts and Washington extend­ed the pro­hi­bi­tion against LWOP sen­tences to those up to 21 years old; Michigan extend­ed the pro­hi­bi­tion to 18-year-olds. Each of these devel­op­ments is acknowl­edge­ment that emerg­ing adults are more sim­i­lar to juve­niles than they are to adults, mak­ing them deserv­ing of spe­cial pro­tec­tions under the law. 

In all three cas­es, recent sci­en­tif­ic and med­ical evi­dence about age and brain devel­op­ment was sig­nif­i­cant. Most recent­ly, in 2024, in Commonwealth v. Mattis, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd held: (1) emerg­ing adults were neu­ro­log­i­cal­ly sim­i­lar to juve­niles with regard to: impulse con­trol; risk-tak­ing in pur­suit of reward; peer influ­ence; and their capac­i­ty for change; and (2) con­tem­po­rary stan­dards of decen­cy reflect­ed in statutes of Massachusetts and oth­er states did not sup­port impos­ing sen­tences of life in prison with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole on offend­ers ages 18 to 20. 

In 2021, in the Matter of Monschke, the Washington Supreme Court Washington extend­ed the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court pro­hi­bi­tion on manda­to­ry life sen­tences in Miller v. Alabama for those under the age of 18 to indi­vid­u­als ages 18,19, and 20. In 2018, Washington was also the first state to extend Miller to any LWOP sen­tences, manda­to­ry or not, in State v. Bassett. 

In 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court issued a series of rul­ings to pro­tect youth and young adults from ​“cru­el or unusu­al” pun­ish­ment. In People v. Parks, the Michigan court extend­ed the pro­hi­bi­tion on LWOP to 18-year-olds. In People v. Stovall, it extend­ed the pro­hi­bi­tion on manda­to­ry life with­out parole to 18-year-old homi­cide offend­ers who com­mit sec­ond degree mur­der. On January 25, 2025, the court heard oral argu­ments in a pair of relat­ed cas­es. In People of MI v Andrew Michael Czarnecki, the court is con­sid­er­ing whether the pro­hi­bi­tion on LWOP for 18-year-olds should be extend­ed to 19-year-olds. In People of MI v Montario Marquise Taylor , the court is con­sid­er­ing whether the pro­hi­bi­tion on LWOP for 18-year-olds should be extend­ed to 20-year-olds. During oral argu­ment in the case, Jon Wojtala, the Wayne Couty Prosecutor rep­re­sent­ing the State in the case, said a rul­ing in favor of Czarnecki and Taylor could open up hun­dreds cas­es for recon­sid­er­a­tion. Both cas­es are still pending.