By Matthew Fahr
Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant, Mich
LANSING, Mich. — In December, Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing four students and injuring others at Oxford High School. It could be the last of its kind.
Last spring, Michigan Senate and House members introduced legislation to abolish juvenile life sentences without parole. If passed, Michigan would join 26 other states that have taken steps to comply with the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Miller v. Alabama, declaring automatic sentencing of a child to life without parole unconstitutional.
The shooter, now 17 but 15 when he murdered four students at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, was sentenced to life without parole on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of terrorism causing death
He was also sentenced to 18-80 years each on all six counts of assault with intent to murder and the maximum of two years on all 12 counts of possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Two bills have had hearings in both the House and the Senate.
Under one bill, Senate Bill 119, a court could not sentence an individual under 19 years old when the crime was committed to imprisonment for life without parole eligibility.
A second bill, Senate Bill 120, would allow for juveniles who have served 10 years of their life sentence without parole to go before a parole board and have their case heard.
Lewis Langham, a retired state police detective lieutenant and professor emeritus at Cooley Law School in Lansing, supports the idea of the possibility of parole of juveniles, but does not agree with the current proposed timeframe.
“I think it should be a little bit further down the line; more along the line of 15 or 20 years before they take a second look,” he said.
Jeffery Swartz, professor of criminal law at Cooley Law School in Tampa, Fla., agrees 10 years is too soon to consider parole in a juvenile case.
“Maybe 20 years would be more realistic because at 20 years you are talking to someone who is in their mid-30’s as opposed to someone who is in their teens,” he said. “But giving the parole board the authority to consider parole is not a requirement that they grant parole.”
Both professors agree the sentence given to Crumbley by Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe in December was appropriate.
“The judge handled the sentencing in a very professional and caring manner,” said Langham. “If there was anybody that should have been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole it was Ethan Crumbley .”
“The failure of the defendant (the shooter) to put on an adequate explanation that he is rehabilitatable left the judge without much of a choice but to do what he did,” said Swartz.
Langham added that the shooter would not be a proper test case to be reevaluated for the possibility of parole after ten years, as proposed in the new legislation.
“I have seen viciousness in juvenile offenders and their lack of disregard for human life and it makes it difficult to think that ten years after murdering four people that you should have an opportunity to be heard again,” said Langham.
Michigan is one of four states, along with Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, that continue to impose life without parole sentences for juveniles.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2012, only seven people under age 18 have been sentenced to life without parole in Michigan, according to civil rights attorney Deborah LaBelle, director of the Juvenile Life Without Parole Project for the American Civil Liberties Union.
LaBelle said 30 others have been resentenced to life without parole who were in prison prior to the Miller decision and does not agree with Rowe’s sentencing of the Oxford shooter.
“This sentence has nothing to do with public safety, it is just cruel and says we are going to give you no hope,” she said. " Michigan is doling out these sentences greater than anyone else. We are number one and everyone else is going in a different direction.”
According to Safe and Just Michigan, a criminal justice nonprofit, Michigan has the largest juvenile lifer population in the nation and spends more than $10 million per year to house those prisoners.
In Michigan, over 300 juveniles have been sentenced to life in prison without parole and one in five have been in prison for 25 years or longer.
The average annual cost per person incarcerated in Michigan is $37,916 and the cost doubles when an incarcerated person is over 50 years old.
“There is a misconception that Miller v. Alabama ended juvenile life without parole for good, but it did not,” said Ronnie Waters, community engagement specialist with Safe and Just Michigan, in a statement last year. “States like Michigan can still sentence children to death by incarceration.”
State Senator Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, is a sponsor of the bill to outlaw juvenile life without parole sentences. He said the bill is aimed at helping the majority of the juveniles in the system and not the minority of cases that stand out.
“What percentage of our juveniles are the Oxford school shooter and what percentage are everyone else?” said Irwin. “The majority of juvenile offenders are not like that at all. Being able to sort out the majority of the cases from the extreme minority of cases like Oxford is what we are doing now in the Legislature.”
He added that legislators are trying to, “provide an avenue for rehabilitation for juvenile offenders. Juveniles deserve a chance to change themselves and change their life trajectory.”
The proposed bills are part of an overall juvenile criminal reform effort in Lansing.
A package of bills signed into law in December include: — Limiting the time a minor has to complete a diversion agreement to three months unless law enforcement deems a longer period necessary; — Implementing risk and mental health screening tools prior to diversion; — Setting up an appellate defense system for indigent youth, ensuring they have representation in their appeals; — Eliminating certain fees and fines associated with the juvenile justice system.
“Michigan will now require the use of risk screening and mental health screening tools before a diversion decision is made for a minor,” state Representative Brenda Carter, D- Pontiac, said in a statement after the bill signing. “These tools can help in crafting the plan of support for these children, equipping them with the opportunity to change the trajectory of their young lives by getting the proper mental health care needed.”
Swartz, the Cooley professor, warned that precautions must be taken in the final language of any legislation outlawing juvenile life without parole sentences.
“What they would have to do if they wanted to avoid having judges circumvent the intent of the statute, they would have to outlaw consecutive sentences in order to essentially create life without parole,” said Swartz.
Irwin said legislators are looking at creating their own bill by looking into specific aspects and language in bills passed in other states.
“We want to take what is most effective and works best from states that have already made this law,” said Irwin. “It is a priority for me to get this legislation passed this year.”
He indicated the importance of legislation when the bills were introduced last year.
“The United States Supreme Court and the Michigan Supreme Court have ruled that automatically sentencing youth to life without parole is cruel and unusual punishment. Michigan law needs to recognize that juvenile offenders deserve a chance at rehabilitation,” Irwin said in a statement. “We shouldn’t turn our backs on juvenile offenders and throw away the key. Instead, we should ensure that Michigan’s juvenile justice system provides a chance for rehabilitation, reintegration, and redemption.”
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