Criminal Justice Reform

Advocates called on state lawmakers to pass a series of stalled criminal justice reform bills during a rally in Lansing on Tuesday. Some pieces of the legislation include bills to end the practice of sentencing young people to life in prison without parole, allow for incarcerated people to shorten their prison terms by earning good time and productivity credits, and providing a chance for resentencing after ten years.

A state House committee held its first hearing Tuesday on proposed amendments to Michigan’s exoneration law. One of the bills would allow defendants who pleaded guilty to ask a court to order DNA tests as part of an effort to reverse a conviction.

When Darrell Ewing landed in the Wayne County Jail a year and a half ago, he found a lot of people struggling. Courts were backed up because of the pandemic, and Ewing said people around him lost loved ones or saw relationships fall apart while they waited – sometimes for years – for their trials to begin. On top of that, no one in the jail had been able to see their friends or family since the jail shut down in-person visitation when COVID broke out in March of 2020.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridget Mary McCormack has called on the new Legislature to fix a legal loophole that denies compensation for people wrongfully convicted of felonies after a decision from the court on Thursday, December 22.

Michigan lawmakers have introduced three pieces of legislation this week that would institute major reforms around police accountability.The bill package…

Michigan lawmakers have introduced three pieces of legislation this week that would institute major reforms around police accountability.The bill package…

Michigan lawmakers have introduced three pieces of legislation this week that would institute major reforms around police accountability.The bill package…

A special task force on jails and pretrial incarceration handed over 18 policy recommendations to leadership in the state legislature Tuesday.Since 1975…