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Carlos Osorio/Getty Images Michigan lawmakers will have advanced more than two dozen criminal justice reform bills when they close the current session this week. Governor Whitmer created a bipartisan commission in 2019 to look at jails across the state to better understand the problem. Much of the reform effort is modeled on its recommendations. The overhaul aim to reduce the state's jail population, which has tripled over the past 3 decades even as crime rates have fallen to a 50-year low.  Supporters spanned grassroots racial justice organizations to Amway co-...

The Michigan Senate on Thursday approved criminal justice reform bills that would end automatic driver's license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees not related to dangerous driving, a practice that advocates say traps people in poverty. Other criminal justice bills passed by the Senate on Thursday would eliminate mandatory jail time for some misdemeanor offenses and remove a barrier to occupational licenses for people with criminal records. Some of the bills will go back to the House for concurrence on minor changes before they are sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Organizations from the A...

Michigan lawmakers pass bills to curb license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees Angie Jackson, Detroit Free Press © Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press Kamal Lukata Anderson of Detroit in front of his home on Thursday, February 27, 2020.Anderson is one of many that have had to deal with suspended drivers license and court cost. He had his license suspended back in 1994 and it took him years to get things back on the right track. The Michigan Senate on Thursday approved criminal justice reform bills that would end automatic driver's license suspensions for unpaid fines and f...