Items · Archive-Mass Incarceration in Michigan

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Breakout Prompts Thorough Staff Review - Other Measures Including Order for Inmates to Wear Jumpsuits, State of Michigan Memorandum

Juveniles Serving Life Without the Possibility of Parole (ACLU Jan 24 2008)

This report was presented to the MI House of Representatives by the ACLU Coalition in order to pass HB 4402-4405, which would have abolished JLWOP in Michigan.

Number of Children Sentenced to LWOP in Michigan by Decade

This graph demonstrates the racially disparate effects of tough-on-crime laws on JLWOP sentencing in Michigan

Map of Michigan, JLWOP arrests by county and race

This map of Michigan demonstrates the concentration of JLWOP cases in Wayne county, a majority-black county. A darker-colored county indicates a higher population of African Americans, while a lighter-colored county indicates a higher population of White residents. Each red dot represents a white child sentenced to LWOP, while each black dot represents a child of color sentenced to LWOP.

Young Outlaws photo 1986

This photograph from the 1986 edition of the Detroit Free Press's "Young Outlaws" series reflects the "juvenile super-predator" panic that would become mainstream in the 1990s, leading to a flood of punitive crime control legislation and action

Graphs of Juvenile arrests in Michigan 1980-2002

This data, collected by the FIA Director's Work Group on Juvenile Waivers and compiled into the "Juveniles in the Justice Systems Report" by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan shows how violent crime and juvenile crime actually declined between 1980 and 2002, even as the number of JLWOP sentences skyrocketed.

Juvenile (17 and Under) Life Sentences in Michigan 1962-2012

Graph of juveniles (17 and under) serving LWOP in Michigan prisons at time of Miller decision. 204 were 17 years old and 162 were waived and 16 or under. Note the spikes before and during passage of 1988 and 1996 laws, then a decline right after, suggesting prosecutors and judges more likely to waive under media and political scrutiny then after the get-tough legislation passes.