juvenile justice

The public hearing to reconsider the life sentence of Efren Paredes Jr. was required under a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling.

One big win delivered this summer was a law that expands access to free legal counsel to juveniles whose families cannot afford a lawyer.

The Michigan Center for Youth Justice received a $1 million grant from the Public Welfare Foundation to lead a statewide coalition focused on reducing youth incarceration.

The lawsuit claims that instead of providing safety and protection, staff at Vista Maria in Dearborn Heights regularly committed acts of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse on the girls in their care.

Wayne County juvenile attorneys haven’t received a pay raise in over 30 years, leading to a shortage of lawyers willing to take these critical cases.

The new bed management tool is a central database with up-to-date information about where space is available in residential treatment centers statewide.

Michigan prosecutors are still asking for more time to respond to a Michigan Supreme Court decision from April. The court found it unconstitutional to hand down mandatory life prison sentences for crimes committed when someone was 19 or 20 years old.As a result, the state’s young adult lifers must receive a new sentence. Prosecutors got a 180-day window to decide whether to again pursue life without parole in those cases.

The Michigan Supreme Court will hear cases in January that could decide whether more younger defendants convicted of murder will have an opportunity to have their mandatory sentences of life with no chance of parole reconsidered by a judge.

We look at the ongoing crisis within Wayne county’s juvenile jails, and what’s being done about it.

The continued investigation into the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Center, new rules for how schools evaluate teachers, and the growing drone show industry in Michigan.