CAPPS/Mackinac Center OP ED: Michigan's parole policies waste money, need reform Barbara Levine and Michael LaFaive 5:18 p.m. EST December 13, 2014, Detroit Free Press (Photo: 2009 photo by ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press) Michigan spends nearly 20% of its general-fund dollars locking people up. A portion of that money could be better spent elsewhere, such as on [...]
Associated Press, November 30, 2014 Download>> Savings eyed in criminal justice featured in Associated Press "Michigan lawmakers are considering changes in the state’s criminal justice system, including a fairer path to parole for prisoners and a data-driven effort to rewrite sentencing guidelines for certain crimes. The case is being made by a western Michigan Republican, [...]
Jake Neher, Michigan Radio, November 20, 2014 Click here to read more. "Michigan spends about $2 billion every year on prisons. The legislation seeks to reduce the length of some prison stays and provide more supervision for people after they are released from prison. The most widely supported proposal would create a commission to oversee [...]
Click here to read the full article. "Programs like this are needed as California’s older prison population is set to grow exponentially, particularly given many inmates’ lengthy sentences. About 5,400 are either on death row or facing life in prison without parole, and another 26,000 are sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. That’s [...]
August 6th, 2014 Click Here To Listen to the Full Story In 1980, Michigan’s corrections budget was 3% of the state’s general fund. Now it is 20% of the general fund. What caused this increase? Ken Sikkema, former Senate Majority Leader and Senior Policy Fellow at Public Sector Consultants, joined Stateside to answer this question. He said [...]
Did you know it costs eighty billion dollars a year to fund correctional services in America? Barbara Levine, associate director at CAPPS, explains the possible solutions to reduce mass incarceration’s exorbitant drain on the economy. Click here to watch.
July 22, 2014, Bridge Magazine Guest editorial by Grover Norquist With Michigan’s correctional system consuming more and more taxpayer dollars every day, the time is right for a key fiscal question: “How can we get the most from our investment in public safety?” As a lifelong conservative, I’ve been proud to call myself tough on [...]
TO READ THE FULL REPORT: Corrections spending reflects major policy choices: Examining the consequences Appendix: Corrections spending proposals reflect major policy choices: Examining the consequences Executive Summary: Corrections spending proposals reflect major policy choices: Examining the consequences The Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending (CAPPS) has released Corrections spending reflects major policy choices: Examining [...]
First two of four Bridge Magazine articles on Michigan's corrections spendingBy Ted Roelofs | Bridge Magazine | bridgemi.com | April 15, 2014 Conservatives seek to lead on prison reform At first blush, the Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank, might seem an unlikely cheerleader for prison reform. Michael LaFaive, a fiscal analyst for the [...]
First two of four Bridge Magazine articles on Michigan's corrections spending/CAPPS quotedBy Ted Roelofs | Bridge Magazine | bridgemi.com | April 15, 2014 Michigan gets serious about high cost of prisons “We’ve locked up people for a long time. I don’t believe we’ve created safer communities.” – Rep. Joe Haveman, R-Holland Since 1980, Michigan’s biggest growth industry has [...]