Safe & Just Michigan

From the March 2025 Criminal Defense Newsletter
A better future begins at home

Amidst the chaos engulfing Washington, D.C., and the unrelenting national news cycle, it can be easy to forget that there are many things we can do closer to home to improve lives and our collective future. Indeed, many of the issues where we can make the greatest impact involve state and local politics and policy. At Safe & Just Michigan, we remind ourselves of this frequently because reforming our criminal justice system is one of those issues. About 90 percent of the people impacted by the criminal justice system nationally are impacted by state and local systems. Just 10 percent is federal. Consider:
  • There are roughly 2.8 million people with criminal records in Michigan, many of whom have unpaid criminal justice debt. 
  • About 100,000 people each year go to jail in Michigan.
  • There are about 33,000 people in prison in Michigan.
And in each case, there are achievable, evidence-based policy changes our Legislature, and governor can make to reduce the number of people impacted by these systems and reduce the harm that arises out of justice involvement for directly impacted people, their loved ones, and their communities.

Not all of the changes we want to see are reachable today — these are not easy issues politically. But some of our goals are achievable, and we are working right now to reach them. Plus, we will never reach our harder goals by waiting; we need to start (or keep) building now, so that someday, those goals are within reach.

Check out Safe & Just Michigan’s new website

We invite you to visit our new website at https://safeandjustmi.org/. It prioritizes our legislative and research work. We've set aside a portion of the site for each bill package we're working on so that you can keep up to date with developments as these proposals move through the Capitol. We know that our research into Michigan's sentencing, parole and corrections spending practices is useful to people throughout the state. Our research can now be found on the legislative campaign page it relates to — for instance, our Clean Slate Year 3 report can be located through the Clean Slate legislative campaign page. We also want to know if you come across any problems with the site. Please reach out to our Senior Communications Specialist Barbara Wieland at info@safeandjustmi.org with any comments or questions.

Help amplify Inside Voices

Inside Voices is a written by justice-involved people currently incarcerated in Michigan prisons that is published in our hardcopy newsletter. While space in the printed newsletter is limited, we are able to post more of them online for everyone to read.

If you would like to encourage someone who is incarcerated to submit a letter, please tell them they can send a letter of 300 words or less on criminal justice reform, pending legislation, re-entry or related topics to Inside Voices, c/o Safe & Just Michigan, 119 Pere Marquette Drive, Suite 2A, Lansing, MI 48912. To learn more, visit us at www.safeandjustmi.org. If you would like to join our efforts, email us at info@safeandjustmi.org or sign up for our newsletter at bit.ly/sjmsignup.