Nessel: Don't make victims pay for changes to sentencing law (The Detroit News)

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An opinion piece by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel from The Detroit News, headlined "Don't make victims pay for changes to sentencing law". It argues that House Bills 4670-4673, which would amend Michigan's Truth in Sentencing Law enacted by voters in 1998, would allow a minimum sentence to be reduced by up to 20% or two years, whichever is less. It states that 93% of the eligible prison population already completes recommended programming before the minimum sentence and that 78% of prisoners serving time in MDOC are classified as assaultive offenders. It also states that HB 4670 leaves out serious violent felonies from its exemptions and that the bills would leave victims unsure when credits are applied.

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Nessel: Don't make victims pay for changes to sentencing law | Opinion 10/7/21, 8:19 AM

The Detroit News

OPINION This piece expresses the views of its author(s), separate from those of this publication.

Nessel: Don't make victims pay for changes
to sentencing law | Opinion

Dana Nessel
Published 10:56 p.m. ET Oct. 6, 2021

As Michigan’s attorney general, I am strongly committed to criminal justice reform. I have spent
much of my career fighting on behalf of crime victims. I started as an assistant prosecuting
attorney in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, where for more than a decade I prosecuted
some of the most heinous crimes affecting our communities, including homicide, arson, criminal
sexual conduct, child abuse and gang-related conspiracy cases.

I have also worked as a defense attorney, ensuring the constitutional rights of those accused of
crimes are upheld and working toward a more fair criminal justice system. Here is what my
experience tells me: House Bills 4670-4673 to amend Michigan’s Truth in Sentencing Law do not
move the needle of criminal justice reform in any meaningful or productive way.

In 1998, the people of Michigan voted to enact the state’s Truth in Sentencing Law, a law that has
functioned successfully for decades. These bills undermine that law and seek to create incentives
for prisoners to participate in programming to reduce their required minimum sentence of
incarceration.

Prisoners are already incentivized to participate in rehabilitative programming and to behave
appropriately, because these things lead to early release after completion of their minimum
sentence and to the earlier possibility of parole.

This is evident from the fact that 93% of the eligible prison population already completes their
recommended programming before their minimum sentence.

This package of bills, more than being unnecessary, is detrimental. It takes an established
minimum sentence — one arrived at by a judge who considered the facts of the case, the Michigan
Department of Correction’s recommendation based on the sentencing guidelines, a defense

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Nessel: Don't make victims pay for changes to sentencing law | Opinion 10/7/21, 8:19 AM

attorney’s argument and a victim impact statement — and allows for it to be reduced by up to 20%
of the minimum sentence, or two years, whichever is less.

An equally troubling aspect of these bills is their direct impact on victims. Reforms like those
outlined in the legislation chip away at the minimum sentence an offender must serve before he or
she is eligible for release. This undermines the very purpose of Truth in Sentencing, which is to
provide victims and the community a sense of security and stability by knowing the absolute
minimum term the defendant will serve.

With 78% of prisoners serving time in MDOC being classified as assaultive offenders, this is
especially crucial for victims. And, although HB 4670 details crimes that are exempt from
productivity credits, it leaves out serious violent felonies such as child abuse, assault with intent to
murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, torture, certain domestic violence offenses, aggravated
stalking and solicitation to murder offenses.

These bills will leave victims unsure as to when these credits are earned and applied, increasing
their vulnerability and undermining the rights they are guaranteed under our state constitution
and the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

In short, these bills attempt to save the state money at a cost to be borne by crime victims and our
communities.

I believe we have a duty to support programs focused on early intervention to prevent our youth
from ever entering our criminal justice system through programs within our schools and services
that support families in need.

I believe we have an opportunity to help lift up those who have paid their debt to society through
meaningful legislation like Michigan’s Clean Slate Law that expanded eligibility for expungement
of criminal records. Criminal justice reform efforts must have a meaningful, positive impact on
our communities, and we absolutely must consider our victims in the equation.

These bills fall short of those laudable goals and will cause further, unnecessary harm to crime
victims — the very people the criminal justice system is designed to protect.

Elected in 2018, Dana Nessel is in her first term as Michigan’s attorney general.

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