Michigan Proposes Juvenile Justice Reforms After Story of Teen Locked Up for Missing Homework Exposed Gaps in System – By Jodi S. Cohen (ProPublica) / July 22, 2022
The story of Grace, the Michigan teen detained for not doing her online schoolwork during the pandemic, has prompted a series of juvenile justice reforms.
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A Michigan task force Friday recommended a series of reforms designed to keep young people out of detention facilities and provide them with better legal representation and more community help, such as family counseling and mental health treatment.
Created after a ProPublica investigation revealed systemic flaws in Michigan’s juvenile justice system, the task force made 32 recommendations that aim to transform what happens when young people get in trouble with the law, including by keeping low-level offenses out of the courts and limiting when children can be detained. Other proposed changes would eliminate most fines and fees charged by juvenile courts and provide more oversight of residential facilities.
“The recommendations, if implemented, will be transformative to the justice system,” said Jason Smith, executive director of the Michigan Center for Youth Justice, an advocacy group. “It would expand the opportunities for alternatives to justice system involvement in the first place, increase transparency within the system with increased data and improve outcomes for young people.”
