- House GOP announces new criminal justice priorities under new majority.
- Speaker of the House Matt Hall said wants to focus on increasing law enforcement in our neighborhoods while preventing letting out prisoners early.
- Advocates say criminal justice reform bills are necessary to help the prison system in Michigan.
Speaker of the House Matt Hall unveiled on Wednesday the new policy track for the House judiciary committee.
"The people of Michigan and crime victims want assurance that people that commit violent crimes and serious crimes are behind bars or for the time they are sentenced," Hall said.
Joined by law enforcement from our neighborhoods, lawmakers calling their new leadership on the committee: respecting law and order.
"I'm super excited to restore justice in our system," State Representative Sarah Lightner said.
Hall appointed Representative Sarah Lightner as the chair of the committee—to push priorities that include passing a 75 million dollar public safety fund to hire more law enforcement in our neighborhoods.
"And to focus on victims and you know making sure that their concerns are heard and make sure our communities are safe," Lightner said.
Halls said bills that would take another look at long prison sentences, end juvenile life sentences without parole, and credit systems for prisoners to shorten sentences would not pass under a GOP majority. Those bills were introduced under the democratic trifecta the previous two years.
As your state capitol reporter, I covered when advocates came to the capitol to push for criminal justice reform to help the prison system.
"What he's saying no to he is saying no to providing relief to our corrections officers," Project director for the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration Chuck Warpehoski said.
Project director for the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration Chuck Warpehoski says lawmakers need to talk to people in the prison system themselves before making decisions.
"They'll tell you some people need to be there. They'll also tell you some people don't need to be there and if we're able to let them come back to our communities, we can have a safer system," Warpehoski said.
Hall says that he believes that people are capable of change without forgetting accountability.
"People commit mistakes when they're young and things like that but letting our murderers early, letting out serial rapists and things like that. That's not happening," Hall said.
The public safety funding bill has yet to be introduced.
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