KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Proposed legislation could put an end to life sentences without parole for those under the age of 19; however, not everyone is on board.
“Victims have a right to be protected. Their families have a right to be protected. Their legacy has a right to be protected,” said Calhoun County Prosecuting Attorney David Gilbert.
If Senate Bills 119-123 and House Bills 4160-4164 become law, anyone under the age of 19 who is convicted of first-degree murder will be given a sentence of no less than ten years and a maximum sentence of no more than 60 years.
The legislation will also make defendants eligible for parole after ten years if the crime was committed before their nineteenth birthday.
“The idea that you can allow somebody out of prison after ten years after murdering somebody in cold blood such as that, it's, it's not fair to victims, it's not fair to their families,” Gilbert said
Gilbert also said that if you’re 16 years old and you kill someone, you’re old enough to know what you’re doing and the outcome of your choice.
“When people reach the point where they're going to commit first-degree murder? They've got a state of mind? And whatever their soul is, they're missing something,” he told FOX 17.
Gilbert also believes that if the bills pass then there's a possibility that communities could feel less safe. "If you know that you can get away with murdering somebody and only get ten years in prison, what's it worth to you?"
However, Alyshia Dyer who is running for Washtenaw County Sheriff has been in law enforcement since 2011 and has worked closely with juvenile lifers, disagrees.
Dyer says a mistake you make as a child should not be treated the same way as an adult.
"I think that we have to understand that young people's brains are not fully developed, which means they are more impulsive, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't hold people accountable, but sentencing somebody at 16 to die in prison, and expecting them to be the same person at age 50... is not in line with actual science," Dyer said.
In her time of getting to know juvenile lifers, she saw firsthand the changes they've made to be better, later adding that banning juvenile life without parole is pro-public safety.
"When you have young people that are sentenced to die in that environment, and they have nothing to lose, that is a dangerous situation for staff. That's a dangerous situation for other people that are incarcerated," she said.
Right now, a number of the 83 elected county prosecutors are on the record opposing these bills, including Kalamazoo County's Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting, who says the law needs to protect our community from violent criminals. He said in a statement in part, "I am in favor of juveniles having second chances in most cases, but I am also in favor of those persons who commit the worst crimes facing the possibility of life without parole."
