Currently, the crime victims compensation act prohibits financial assistance to victims of crime that occur in a correctional facility. Senate Bill 845, introduced by Senator Tom Casperson (R – District 38), removes this prohibition if the prosecutor supports the claim. This bill will recognize incarcerated people and their families can also be crime victims that are [...]
Text of SB 689 Several years ago, the MDOC adopted a new policy of housing selected prisoners in county jails. The initial Director’s Office Memorandum (DOM) provided that anyone classified at security Level 1 who was serving a flat sentence for an offense other than criminal sexual conduct could be sent to serve their time in [...]
Judicial veto bill (HB 5273) CAPPS has long worked to address the parole review procedures that have kept parolable lifers incarcerated long past their first parole eligibility date, regardless of their current risk to public safety. HB 5273, introduced by Rep. Pagel and cosponsored by Rep. Howrylak and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, would [...]
Thank you for your support throughout the reform debates! Here's a quick summary of the outcome with links to the bills: A Senate substitute bill (S-9) for House Bill 5928 creates a Criminal Justice Policy Commission with a four-year sunset provision. 2014-HCB-5928 Unfortunately, reforms of repeat offender sentencing that were included in HB 5928 were not included in the [...]
Three steps forward and one giant step backward for criminal justice reform: The package of criminal justice reform bills that emerged from the Council of State Government process (HB 5928, 5929, 5930 and 5931) is pending action in the Senate. CAPPS endorses three bills in the package: HB 5928, 5929 and 5930. The bills would [...]
Long-awaited legislation to reform Michigan laws that currently allow juveniles to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, or JLWOP, was introduced in June and is now awaiting action in the House Criminal Justice Committee. The bills have strong bipartisan support. One of the bills in the package, HB 4809, also includes important [...]