People of Michigan v. Demariol Dontaye Boykin

Summary

The Michigan Supreme Court held that sentencing courts must treat youth as a mitigating factor when sentencing juvenile offenders to term-of-years sentences under the applicable juvenile sentencing statutes. The court further held that trial courts need not specifically explain on the record how youth affected the sentence, although they must otherwise justify the sentence sufficiently for appellate review. The court vacated the portions of both Court of Appeals decisions addressing sentencing and remanded for review of whether the sentencing courts properly treated youth as mitigating.