CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
While the Michigan legislature has made strides in reforming the criminal justice system, significant work remains. Michigan has some of the worst mandatory minimum sentences in the country. Our current sentencing guidelines are often inconsistent across counties, leading to unequal application of the law. While judicial discretion is vital, the current disparities in how Michiganders experience justice highlights a system in need of fundamental change. We must shift our focus from a purely punitive mindset toward a more holistic approach that prevents initial interaction with the system and prioritizes the reduction of recidivism.
Sentencing GuideLines
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Eliminate maximum sentencing guidelines to allow judges more discretion to account for mitigating circumstances.
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When we are evaluating sentences for non-violent crimes we should use both the severity of the crime as well as the person's criminal history when we are considering sentencing.
Good TIme
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Michigan is one of only six states without "good time" legislation. Implementing this would reduce the prison population and save taxpayers millions.
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Our economy must be focused on creating a thriving Michigan focused on growth and driving investment into our state, but because of our lack of good time legislation we spend nearly 49K dollars per prisoner here in Michigan. If we had good time legislation and less prisoners in Michigan we would have no need to invest 2.1billion dollars into the Michigan Department of Correction budget.
Jobs Program
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As someone who worked in the Michigan Senate during the peak of COVID-19 I saw first hand how our departments being understaffed impacted the unemployment system and the Department of Health and Humans services. Our state has a large number of vacancies in numerous departments. We can create a job program that trains individuals in our system to fill the vacancies that we have in these departments.
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We can work with small businesses and give them tax breaks if they hire residents in our system who have completed a jobs training program.