Michigan is a national leader in criminal justice reform. We have demonstrated our commitment to bipartisan, data-driven reform through our collaborative success expanding access to expungement and reforming our jail and pretrial incarceration systems. Launched in 2019, the Jails and Pretrial Incarceration Task Force found significant growth in county jail populations, costing taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars annually. The Task Force recommended extensive state policy changes related to traffic violations, arrests, behavioral health diversion, pretrial release and detention, speedy trials, sentencing, probation and parole, financial barriers for system-involved individuals, victim services, and data collection. The Michigan Legislature passed many of the Task Force recommendations with bipartisan support in December of 2020, which were signed into law on January 4, 2021.

In the last several years, Michigan has also made many improvements to its juvenile justice system that can serve as a foundation for continued reform. These changes include the adoption of “state pays first” legislation, state legislative action to “raise the age” of automatic adult adjudication, as well as the many efforts happening at the county level to improve outcomes for young people in the juvenile justice system. However, even with these improvements, Michigan still detains youth at one of the highest rates in the nation and is nearly unparalleled in our practice of detaining youth for non-criminal behavior.

A growing body of research has also enabled policy leaders to better understand which practices best deter delinquency and rehabilitate young people. Jurisdictions across the country have generated innovative models for juvenile justice reform that could inform policy discussions or be adapted to improve system outcomes in Michigan.

The elected leaders of this state are committed to good government, transparency, responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources, and to the constitutional guarantees of liberty, due process, and equal protection of the laws.

The Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform is necessary to lead a data-driven analysis of our juvenile justice system and recommend proven practices and strategies for reform grounded in data, research, and fundamental constitutional principles. This task force will exist as a partnership between county and state leaders, as well as other leaders involved in the juvenile justice system.