Juvenile Justice Task Force Approves Blueprint

Liz Gullett

Jul 22, 2022

This week, the Michigan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform met to approve a comprehensive set of recommendations they believe will transform the state’s juvenile justice system. The approved recommendations establish a statewide blueprint for aligning policies and practices across the juvenile justice continuum, including:

- Expanding diversion opportunities for youth who are not a public safety risk.
- Creating a statewide juvenile public defense system and best practice standards.
- Increasing funding for effective community-based programs, including alternatives to incarceration and tying funding to evidence-based practices.
- Adopting data-driven tools to guide diversion, court, and detention decisions.
- Strengthening standards and quality assurance for local probation practices and statewide residential programs.
- Expanding data collection to measure system performance, outcomes, and equity.
- Establishing a statewide advisory board of youth and families impacted by the system to help guide ongoing system improvements.

The bipartisan task force was formed in June 2021 and includes leaders from across branches of government, state and local agencies, those working in and impacted by the system, and other stakeholders. As a next step, the task force will release a full report of the assessment findings and approved recommendations, and then work to translate and adopt the approved recommendations into legislation, administrative, court rule, and other policy changes.

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