Currently, in Michigan, several counties have access to mental health courts. Among them are courts in Wayne, Jackson, Oakland, Livingston, St. Clair, Grand Traverse, Otsego, Genessee, Berrien, Kalamazoo, and Ionia/Montcalm Counties. A majority of these mental health courts receive some sort of funding through the Michigan Mental Health Court Grant Program (MMHCGP).
The County Jail Reimbursement Program is a program that was established in 1989 and was designed to save money on prisons. It allowed county jails to house felons that would be housed in prisons in order to save the state of Michigan money.
In an effort to generate revenue for the state of Michigan, Governor Granholm has suggested different options dealing with the sale of alcohol. She has proposed the allowance of bars to stay open until 4 AM rather than 2 AM, by means of the owners purchasing a permit that would allow this.
House bills 4518 and 4594-4596 as introduced in February of 2009 would amend various acts to prohibit sentencing a juvenile convicted of a crime to life without the possibility of parole and also revise parole eligibility for juveniles sentenced as adults.
Michigan returned 62 sex offenders to prison who were mistakenly released between June 22nd and June 24th. This mistake was caused by a glitch in how psychologists determined the prisoners' treatment plans.
Criminal Justice
Mental Health Courts
Written by Jessica Deloach
Monday, 01 February 2010 19:45
In the opinion of some individuals, incarcerating someone who is mentally handicapped will do nothing to improve their way of life or the way they look at situations, which would in turn, be futile to the improvement and stability of the community. If, instead, they were sentenced to treatment to care for their mental disabilities, they would have a higher likelihood of improvement and understanding of societal rules and norms. According to the description of specialty courts on the Michigan.gov website, "Specialty courts, also known as problem solving courts, are innovative programs designed to address an offender's underlying problem. Trial Court Services staff assigned to specialty courts strive to afford access to therapeutic justice by facilitating efficient and comprehensive problem solving court problems" (Michigan.gov).
Davis: Hello Senator Cropsey! Thank you for allowing me to conduct this interview with you today!
Cropsey: Thank you Jamia for having me! It is definitely my pleasure!
Davis: No problem! We shall get right into the interview. So, Senator Cropsey what is your educational background?
Cropsey: I received my BA in Mathematics Education from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, and my law degree from Cooley Law School here in Lansing.
According to The Detroit News article on the Detroit murder toll, Police Chief Evans discussed some of his new policy implementations. In this description, he described the increased reliance on statistics that will be used. According to this article, "Police officials now use statistics to locate crime hot spots...Detroit discarded the method a few years ago." Evans talked about how Detroit will be delving deeper into this method of policing (LeDuff and Hunter). This method is very interesting and is increasingly being used by police departments across the nation that are working on a limited budget. It is used as a tool to use limited resources in a conservative way; it allows the department to focus its attention on the places that are most likely to be crime hot spots.
Overflow of Pennsylvania prisons saves Michigan jobs
Written by Jessica Deloach
Wednesday, 30 December 2009 02:13
Pennsylvania agreed to send about 2,000 inmates to a Michigan medium-security prison in Muskegon last week. This prison was on the verge of shutting down and in the process, would have cost Michigan about 260 jobs in the Muskegon area.
This decision to harbor inmates from other prisons is a decision that has many benefits for Michigan. Not only does this decision save the jobs that would have been lost in Muskegon, but it also provides Michigan with revenue. It costs this Muskegon prison about $59.85 per day per inmate and Pennsylvania will be paying Michigan $62 per day per inmate.
Krysta Daly: How did you get into this type of field?
Shelli Weisberg: Well I took more of a leisurely route than some people, but I have a degree in finance and my masters in finance. So when I graduated from school I was working for law firm that did estate planning and pension plans. When I had children I decided to stay home with the kids, so I stayed home for sixteen years. While I was at home, I was very locally involved in politics. When I was elected to my school board, I did federal and state lobbying on education issues for my school board. When I went back to work it was natural for me to want to...you know, I liked politics. So it was natural for me to go into this side of it. I began volunteering at the ACLU, and while I was volunteering a job opened up, so I was able to apply. I think there were fifty people applying for it and most of them were attorneys. Generally, people who lobby will have a legal background or a political background.
The Michigan Policy Network is a student-led public education and research program to report and organize news and information about the political process surrounding Michigan state policy issues. It is run out of the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University, with participation by students from the College of Social Science, the College of Communication, and James Madison College.
The thoughts, opinions, and positions represented herein are solely those of the participating students and in no way represent an official position or policy recommendation of Michigan State University.
Jessica DeLoach is Criminal Justice policy fellow. She is a senior at Michigan State University and grew up in Southwest Michigan. She is a Political Science-Prelaw and Spanish major and plans to attend law school after she receives her Bachelor's degree. Jessica just completed an internship with the Michigan House of Representatives with Representative John Proos and is looking forward to continuing her study and interpretation of state politics.
