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Featured Blogs
A visit to Lakeland Correctional Facility
On Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, John Cooper, our associate director of policy & research, traveled to Lakeland Correctional Facility to present at the monthly meeting of Chapter #1013 of the National Lifers of America organization [...]
Supporting veterans by ensuring their needs are met in the justice system
Veterans Day is Nov. 11, but when that day falls on a weekend, as it does in 2018, the federal holiday is also observed in a weekday, which is why Veterans Day is being observed [...]
Get out and vote!
Nov. 6, 2018, is Election Day. Big decisions are being made in Michigan, from who should sit in the governor’s office to how political districts are drawn in our state. Political offices and issues being [...]
Proposals to Reform the Expungement Process
In our last blog post on expungement in Michigan, we discussed current reform proposals and made some recommendations about ways in which eligibility for expungement should be expanded. We now turn to our recommendations for [...]
2018 Lame Duck Session: Criminal Justice Issues to Watch
Every two years, at the end of a legislative session, the Legislature has a post-election “lame duck” session, where the election results are known, but the existing Legislature has several weeks of session remaining in [...]
Safe & Just Michigan’s Annual Meeting focuses on moving hearts and minds
Solving the problem of how to get more people to get on board with criminal justice reform was the theme of the night at Safe & Just Michigan’s Annual Membership Meeting and dinner, held Thursday, [...]
Only one was sentenced, but a whole Michigan family does time in “The Sentence,” a documentary on HBO
Rudy Valdez didn’t intend to create an award-winning documentary when he picked up a camera and started filming his niece preparing for her first dance recital. All he wanted to do was capture the moment [...]
Detroit Community Meeting – Sharing stories, planning for the future
September brought great legislative advancements to the cause of criminal justice reform in Michigan, such as the passage of objective parole, the governor’s decision to ban the box on state job applications and movement toward [...]
Current reforms: Expanding the scope of expungement in Michigan
Michigan’s expungement law is both too restrictive and too difficult to use. There are a number of pending bills to expand access, which we will discuss below. There are not yet any bills introduced to [...]
Safe house: crime survivors need secure, affordable housing
Kimberly Cole is haunted by the memory of the young woman who came to her asking for help with her apartment manager. Cole is an instructor with St. Luke’s New Life Center in Flint, an [...]
Objective parole bill passes out of full Senate
Objective parole is one step away from becoming law in Michigan after it sailed through the Senate committee hearing and a full vote of the Senate in single day on Sept. 5, 2018. Objective parole [...]
Clean Slate in Penn state
Lawmakers, community leaders, business advocates and even sports figures agree that thriving communities are at their best when all people who live in them are able to seek meaningful employment and obtain safe housing. It [...]