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Featured Blogs
How Michigan compares to other states on COVID-19 in prison
Michigan has one of the worst epidemics of COVID-19 in prisons in the country, both in terms of the number of people infected and the number of people who have died of a COVID-19-related illness. The [...]
Blacklisted: The evidence-based reasons to end the sex offender registry
(Please note that portions of this blog use legislative and legal terms that aren’t Safe & Just Michigan’s preferred terminology. Safe & Just Michigan prefers to use humanizing person-first terms. However, as this post deals [...]
The Problematic Division between Violent and Non-Violent Offenses
The division between violent and non-violent offenses has long been used in the criminal justice system, and subsequently, in the reform of the system. In recent years, there has been growing acknowledgement of the problems [...]
Meet Rick Speck, Safe & Just Michigan’s New Community Engagement Specialist
For Rick Speck, the process of change relies heavily on role models — both having one and being one. While he was incarcerated, it was the presence of good role models that led Speck, now [...]
The Need to Push Further and the Wall of Truth in Sentencing
The COVID-19 crisis presents an unprecedented challenge to our country that touches on all aspects of our society, including the criminal justice system. Knowing that there is broad public support for protecting incarcerated people in [...]
Evidence for Public Support for Decarceration amid Covid-19
The COVID-19 crisis presents an unprecedented challenge to our country that touches on all aspects of our society, including the criminal justice system. Knowing that there is broad public support for taking steps to protect [...]
Safe & Just Michigan statement on COVID-19
In these are trying and uncertain times, we at Safe & Just Michigan want you to know that we are working to limit the impact of COVID-19 on people in Michigan's jails and prisons, to [...]
Join us for a VIRTUAL Day of Empathy
It has been a difficult few weeks full of changes and challenges for all of us, We want to send our best wishes to you, your friends, and to your family during these trying times. [...]
Kicking the habit: How habitual offender enhancements are applied by degree and crime group
(This is the second post in a series Safe & Just Michigan is running on Michigan’s habitual offender laws. Other posts include: Can my sentence be used against me and more to be written as [...]
Breaking the cycle of trauma and prison
(Please note: the following blog post contains the reflections of formerly incarcerated people in their own words, and it covers material that is emotionally sensitive such as rape and gun violence.) Daniel Jones’ life [...]
Day of Empathy 2020: What Can It Mean for You?
I walked into my first Day of Empathy event nearly four years ago feeling terrified, socially averse and embarrassed. I was ashamed and had been shamed. I had only recently completed my three years of [...]
Holding families together when they’re “Locked Out”
When someone is sentenced to prison, they aren’t the only one doing hard time. The people who wait for them at home — their friends, their family, their loved ones — also experience the hardships [...]