By Simon Albaugh \u2013 Yemeni American News<\/p>\n
Detroit, Mich. \u2013 Criminal Justice as an institution saw a massive demand for change in the wake of the George Floyd protests. In response to millions of protesters demanding a difference from systemic racism in America\u2019s institutions, some of Detroit\u2019s judges and veteran law enforcement actors have been working to fix this. However, this didn\u2019t come without the sacrifices made by some of the frontline activists at the forefront of Detroit\u2019s response to Floyd\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n
Michigan has a long road ahead of it for criminal justice reform. Since the late \u201870s, Michigan\u2019s incarcerated population has tripled<\/span><\/a>, according to data compiled by the Project Vera, a nonprofit initiative working to end mass incarceration. Although the incarceration rate is down slightly since 2000, Michigan is still sixth in the country for incarceration rates in both jails and prisons.<\/p>\n Despite being a minority of the state\u2019s population, African Americans are disproportionately imprisoned at an astronomical rate \u2013 with 15% of the state\u2019s population composing 53% of the state\u2019s prison population.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n State Legislators\u2019 Efforts Against Prison Return<\/p>\n A year ago, a set of bills co-sponsored by Detroit Representative Tyrone Carter was introduced. Called the Safer Michigan Act, the package of six bills was meant to address the recidivism rate for incarcerated people and an opaque victims\u2019 compensation system.<\/p>\n One of the bills in the Safer Michigan Act package would designate programs for incarcerated people to receive job training, housing instruction and education while serving their jail sentence. The bipartisan legislators who sponsored the bill \u2013 Tyrone Carter, Bronna Kahle, Bradley Slagh, Bryan Posthumus, and Julie Calley \u2013 all assured that this bill was designed for nonviolent offenders who are eligible for parole.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is our job, it is our obligation to prepare them for the \u2018what\u2019s next,\u2019\u201d Carter told Fox 2 Detroit. \u201cIf we prepare them for work, the recidivism rate will plummet.\u201d<\/p>\n The package as a whole had two main goals: to create the system for incarcerated people to receive training they need to live productive lives once outside prison and to provide victims of crime a more transparent process for accessing the victims\u2019 compensation fund.<\/p>\n