Hopeful, promising change is in the works for children in Michigan's criminal justice system being sentenced as adults. Currently being vetted in the Michigan House of Representatives is the "Youth in Prison" bill package—a package of 21 bi-partisan bills, HB 4947-4966, aimed at keeping youth out of our adult criminal justice system.

In a conversation I had with State Rep. Harvey Santana (D), who is spearheading the legislative effort, he explained that Michigan is "one of nine states" that still tries to convict juveniles as adults.

Matthew Bentley was 14 years old in 1997 when he broke into a house he thought was unoccupied. While rummaging for valuables, he was confronted by the owner. That's when Matthew shot and killed her with a gun he found in the house.

At the time of his crime, Matthew couldn't legally smoke, drive or join the military, but he would receive a mandatory adult sentence — life without the possibility of parole.

Despite the courts being clear that it is unconstitutional to prohibit panhandling on a public sidewalk, a number of municipalities continue to enforce local anti-begging ordinances. In Waterford Township, Tiffany Cuthrell and her boyfriend were hoping to visit family out of state, but they were short on funds, so Tiffany stood on a sidewalk with a sign that said “In Love, Out of Gas,” while her boyfriend played guitar. Although soliciting donations has long been recognized as a form of speech protected by the First Amendment, a police officer ticketed Tiffany and charged her with a crime f

The Supreme Court ruled decades ago that it is unconstitutional to jail a person for failure to pay a debt that she or he cannot afford.  However, until recently, numerous judges throughout Michigan were jailing poor people on “pay or stay” sentences—sentences where individuals who are found guilty of a crime are sent to jail if they cannot immediately pay large fines and costs imposed by the court.  In order to document and draw attention to this problem, the ACLU of Michigan has engaged in repeated court-watching efforts and has appealed pay-or-stay sentences for indigent individuals in s

LANSING--The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan today announced the launch of a new project aimed at reducing the state’s incarceration rate, which is 31 percent higher than the Midwest average.

Through legislative advocacy and public education, the Fair Justice/Smart Justice Michigan campaign will focus on:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. detested violence. Nevertheless, during the month when we commemorate his birth, we must face the fact that black males between the ages of 15 and 34 were the victims of more than 15 percent of all deaths at the hands of police officers in 2015—even though they constitute only two percent of the total U.S. population.

It is a police-related death rate that is five times higher than that of young white males.

DETROIT--As Detroit civil-rights activists prepare to protest the recent fatal shooting of an unarmed Detroit man by a Dearborn police officer, the ACLU of Michigan today called for "transparency and professionalism" in the Detroit Police Department's investigation into the slaying.

Many employers require job applicants to disclose past convictions on their job applications.  Although this information may sometimes be relevant to a job qualification, some employers refuse to even consider an applicant with a felony conviction even if the offense took place in the distant past and is not relevant to job performance.  Such a practice can have particularly devastating consequences for communities of color, who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system as a result of racial profiling, the misguided War on Drugs, and other biases. 

Constitutional protections should not be guaranteed to only those who can financially afford them. And yet there is an ongoing crisis in Michigan's indigent defense system for those too poor to afford fair and just legal representation.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is lauding a state Supreme Court proposal that could end unconstitutional "pay-or-stay" sentencing practices in courtrooms around the state.