On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the House Judiciary Committee met for a fourth time to consider the Clean Slate legislative package. This time, they voted it out of committee and sent it to the floor of the House for a vote of the full chamber. But before doing so, they adopted substitute versions of the bills [...]
The Clean Slate for Michigan package is a set of six bills that will transform how expungements are handled in our state. Once passed, they will open up expungement opportunities to more people, allow people to get expungements more quickly than before and automate the process in many cases. But since each bill handles a [...]
The Clean Slate legislative package has arrived, and now is the time to get on board and show your support and advocate for even broader reforms. The legislation is a set of bills that would, among other things: expand the number of people who are eligible for expungement, automate the expungement process in many of [...]
On Sept. 9, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers introduced Clean Slate legislation to Michigan. If passed, this legislation will be crucial in helping people who have a criminal record and who have lived crime-free for years. This package of legislation would increase the number of these people who would become eligible for an expungement, [...]
The Michigan Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration will meet again later this month, and the members need to hear from more people who have been directly impacted by the justice system at the county level. People who have been incarcerated in county jails, or who have loved ones who have been in jails, [...]
Last week, Safe & Just Michigan Policy Analyst Josh Hoe and I had the opportunity to be part of a group of 20 that had a tour of the Vocational Village at the Parnall Correctional facility in Jackson. Parnall’s program is the second of its kind in the state. The first program was developed in [...]
Being released from prison should have been the end of a long, difficult chapter in Jarrett Ruffin’s life and the start of a much easier one. Instead, when Ruffin was released in 2003, he found a slate of new hurdles to cross, not the least of which was simply finding a safe place to call [...]
On April 25, Rep. Klint Kesto (R-District 39), House of Representatives Law and Justice Committee chair, took testimony from national leaders calling for continued criminal justice reforms and investment in services that prevent crime and help crime survivors heal. Mark Holden, senior vice president and general counsel of Koch Industries, called on Michigan to continue [...]
By Barbara Levine, executive director The recent Free Press series and its sensational headlines suggest that large numbers of released prisoners are roaming the streets assaulting and murdering citizens at will. Fortunately, the evidence does not support this extreme conclusion. Unfortunately, the disturbing image is what the public is likely to remember. If that image [...]