In the 2005 case Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court found that using the death penalty on those who commit murder as juveniles is unconstitutional.

Yet in a devastating move for victims, Michigan's Supreme Court recently went further by declaring that individuals who are under 21 cannot be sentenced to life without parole. 

Court: Life sentence for young adults is "unconstitutionally cruel punishment"

According to The Detroit News, that announcement came in the form of a 5-2 ruling which was handed down by the state's highest judicial body this past Thursday.

"As applied to defendants who were 19 or 20 years old at the time of their crime, a mandatory LWOP (life without parole) sentence that does not allow for consideration of the mitigating factors of youth or the potential for rehabilitation is a grossly disproportionate punishment," Justice Elizabeth Welch was quoted as writing.

The majority opinion stated that a sentence of life without parole is an "unconstitutionally cruel punishment" for young adult offenders, with one justice indicating that he would like to see the age limit set at 25.

"I would instead follow the thoughtful conclusions of the many scientific studies presented before us and relied upon in both Parks and these cases, and hold that the turning point for any test, be it a brightline rule or a shifting age-based presumption, starts at age 25 and not age 21," Justice Richard Bernstein wrote in a concurring opinion.

Republican justices accuse colleagues of overstepping their authority

However, Justices Elizabeth Clement authored a dissent in which she accused the judicial branch of usurping power from lawmakers.

"It is one thing for scientific evidence to justify a change in policy from the Legislature, and another thing for that same evidence to support a judicial finding that mandatory (life without parole) violates our Constitution," they wrote.

"The bar for the latter is much higher, and I do not believe it has been met," the Republican-nominated justice went on to assert.

The News noted how Thursday's opinion was split along party lines and is retroactive, which means that all 19- and 20-year-old offenders who are serving life without parole must be resentenced.

Prosecutor highlights impact on victims

Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks serves as president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, and he warned of how victims will be impacted.

"We’ve listened to survivors say they need certainty and finality in the sentences of the convicted criminals who took the lives of their loved ones," Brooks was quoted as saying in a statement.

"They have described the retraumatization that results from the never-ending litigation of these cases," the prosecutor stressed.

"The resentencing hearings resulting from this ruling will also require tremendous amounts of time and expense to prosecutors’ offices throughout the state," Brooks went on to add.