A governor-appointed task force completed its duties July 22, by approving a 30-page report of recommendations and findings to overhaul the state juvenile justice system.
Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who chairs the task force said the “unprecedented” recommendations aim to reduce the number of kids going through the system by addressing disparities and maximizing the impact of state resources.
The committee called out a lack of policy, data collection and funding incentives that could keep kids from entering the court system.
Read the full report and all 32 recommendations.
Jason Smith is the director of the Michigan Center for Youth Justice and participated in the task force. He said flaws in the juvenile justice system often persist on a county-by-county basis.
The issues that face rural Northern Michigan are not always the same as down state, according to Smith.
“For example, rural counties may struggle to have as large of a menu of services,” Smith said. “Hopefully, these recommendations will help those counties figure out where they can partner with others to fix those issues.”
For Leelanau County Family Court Administrator, Cameron Clark, the most important recommendations are ones that will impact his county. Clark served as a member of the Court Processing Working Group within the task force.
He said the recommendation that enhances the Child Care Fund (CCF), to increase the state reimbursement rate for juvenile services, from 50 percent to 75 percent will have the most positive impact on Leelanau County.
Wexford County Probate Judge Edward Van Alst said he also supports the increase in CCF reimbursement, along with most of the other recommendations.
Van Alst said he is in full support of prioritizing community-based programs for youth as a way to keep juveniles in their home counties. He said Wexford has struggled with finding placement options for the youth in their county. In some cases they have had to send kids to facilities out of state. The funding boost will hopefully mean an increase in services being offered before minors face detention sentences, he said.
The only recommendation that did not pass unanimously out of the 32 was the sixth recommendation from the task force, which asked to establish 13 as the minimum age for juvenile court jurisdiction.
The subclauses in this recommendation state that the CCF can be utilized by counties and tribes to fund support services and service programs for kids who are younger than 13. The minors can still be referred to the probation process in a different way that would not require them to be arrested or given a petition in order to access services for themselves or their families.
Clark said this recommendation is a good thing, because most kids under the age of 13 struggle with navigating the system and defending themselves.
“This will allow us to do more work with kids in prejudication and utilize diversion services,” he said. “It’s gonna help us reach more kids.”
Cheboygan County Probate Court Judge Daryl Vizina said he is concerned with the recommendation.
“It’s rare but sometimes we do see an 11 or 12-year-old with significant behavior issues,” Vizina said. “One of the advantages of the court is we can order services, we can order an assessment of some sort.”
Vizina said truancy is one of the most common offenses from this age group - which are denoted as “status offenses” under the law. These are acts that would not be crimes if they were committed by adults, such as truancy, curfew violations and running away.
One of the task force’s recommendations was a state-funded pilot program to remove status offenses completely from court jurisdiction. Counties participating in the pilot program will provide services for diverted youth and shall receive technical assistance from the new SCAO Juvenile Justice Services Division.
Vizina stressed the importance of keeping status offenses in the court’s jurisdiction. In his county, he said status offenders are most in need of services.
“We have saved dozens of kids in this small community because we proceed on truancy cases,” Vizina said. “Kids miss 60, 70 days of school, they're failing all their classes, they are not going to graduate unless we get involved.”
One of the report’s suggestions is to broaden diversion and consent calendars for first time offenders. For Judge Van Alst, he is in favor of this recommendation.
“I’ve always strongly supported giving kids one free shot at it,” he said. “If the kids are good and they just made one little mistake once, and didn’t have any prior contact with the court or law enforcement, and the offense wasn’t particularly serious, it was minor, to give them an opportunity to do probation without having a record.”
According to Derrick McCree, Director of the Juvenile Justice Division at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, who served as a representative on the task force, the ultimate goal was to include diverse voices from the juvenile justice industry.
“Our emphasis has been about all 83 counties in the state and how we can have the greatest good for the greatest number,” said Derrick McCree, Director of the Juvenile Justice Division at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. “We want to make sure kids and their parents have the resources for rehabilitation.”
McCree said the recommendations will be sent to the governor’s office for individual approval. After that, the state will start on an implementation plan with the Council on State Government which will push the recommendations into law either through the legislative policy or infrastructure improvements.
A collaborative effort between the Record-Eagle and Interlochen Public Radio aims to demystify the juvenile justice system in Northern Michigan with a series of stories. If you have an experience with the juvenile justice system you would like to share please contact reporters Elizabeth Brewer (ebrewer@record-eagle.com) and Michael Livingston (michael.livingston@interlochen.org).
