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Featured Blogs
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 [...]
Can My Prior Record Be Used Against Me?
(This is the first post in a series Safe & Just Michigan is running on Michigan’s habitual offender laws.) (At Safe & Just Michigan, we generally use human-centered language. However, to keep technical concepts clear [...]
Mary Lynn Stevens retires, but her passion for people and persuasion remains
Mary Lynn Stevens always told me that her job as development director for Safe & Just Michigan was the capstone of her career. After all, it brought together many of the things she is most [...]
Get to know the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration recommendations
In January 2020, the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration issued a list of 18 legislative action items that — if enacted — could revolutionize Michigan’s county jails and the lives of [...]
What did the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration recommend?
What happens when you bring a task force together including Democrats, Republicans, legislators, victims-rights advocates, county commissioners, law enforcement officers, and formerly incarcerated people? A list of 18 recommendations designed to reduce the jail population [...]
Meet Amy Smitter, SJM’s new development director
At one point, Amy Smitter dreamed of a career in far-flung American embassies across the globe. She prepared for that future by studying political science and studying Russian and Eastern European culture and history. But [...]
MDOC in 2018: By the numbers
Each year, the Michigan Department of Corrections releases a factbook of statistics describing their department, the state prisons and the people who are incarcerated inside them. This year’s factbook, which looks at statistics from 2018, [...]
Safe & Just Michigan’s Top 10 for criminal justice reform in 2019
As 2019 winds down, we thought we’d take a moment to look back at a busy year for criminal justice reform in Michigan and take stock of all that’s happened. From the introduction of Clean [...]