Two Groundbreaking Court Victories Create New Second Chances

By Emily Bloomenthal

Earlier this month, courts in Massachusetts and Michigan made history by giving hundreds of people serving life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) sentences the opportunity to be considered for release from prison. Both decisions apply to people who were “emerging adults” at the time of their crime. The Massachusetts decision will allow everyone who was 18 to 20 years old at the time of the crime to be considered for parole after serving 15–30 years (depending on when they were sentenced and the specifics of the crime), while the Michigan decision requires resentencing of anyone serving a mandatory LWOP sentence for a crime committed when they were 18.

Both of these decisions were based in large part on a growing understanding of the science of adolescent brain development. Over the past two decades, courts have, based on this increasing body of evidence, struck down the use of the most severe punishments against children under 18. But the evidence shows that brains continue to mature until around age 25, and courts are therefore starting to extend similar protections to emerging adults.

While Massachusetts is the first state where a court has found LWOP sentences to be unconstitutional under the state constitution for people who were 18 to 20 years old at the time of the crime, many states have adopted reforms in recent years that recognize the unique needs and potential of emerging adults. Most notably, Washington D.C. has a “second look” process that allows people who were young at the time of their crime to be resentenced after they have served at least 15 years. D.C.’s second look law originally only applied to people who were under 18 at the time of the crime, but after seeing the success of people released under that law, the D.C. City Council extended it to people who were under 25 at the time of the crime.

As of June 2023, 195 people had been released under this expanded second look law, and only 7 (4%) had been rearrested. Moreover, many of the people who have come home have become valuable assets to the community, including doing vital violence prevention work with youth. You can learn more about D.C.’s second look law by watching FAMM’s new documentary, “District of Second Chances.”

Thanks to court decisions, legislative changes, clemency, and other mechanisms, more and more people who were sentenced to die in prison are instead returning to our communities and thriving. Each of these success stories further illustrates that we shouldn’t give up on people, and that we need to continue to expand and improve opportunities for people in prison to show that they are rehabilitated and ready to come home.

Emily Bloomenthal is FAMM’s Director of Research.