Bipartisan group seeks criminal justice overhaul

See - Bipartisan group seeks criminal justice overhaul


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A national group representing the left and right of the political spectrum is concentrating on Michigan as ripe for criminal justice changes that include releasing parolees earlier and curbing law enforcement’s seizure of people’s assets regardless of whether charges are filed.

The U.S. Justice Action Network comprises seven partner groups such as the liberal American Civil Liberties Union and Center for American Progress and conservative FreedomWorks and Americans for Tax Reform. The organization’s Executive Director, Holly Harris, has been traveling to Lansing to lobby lawmakers and others since its formation in the summer and hopes legislation is enacted by year’s end.

“All of these groups that ordinarily wouldn’t agree with each other on anything have come together in agreement on these justice reform issues,” she said in an interview last week in the Capitol. “They all come at it from a different perspective — whether it’s a liberty issue, a freedom issue, a cost-savings issue, a civil rights issue, the disproportionate impact the criminal justice system has on people of color. They all agree the reforms are necessary.”

She said the group — which also is targeting Ohio and Pennsylvania before expanding to more states next year — wants to safely reduce the prison population and associated “astronomical” incarceration costs, address over-criminalization and help ex-convicts successfully return to society.

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