Bill Text: MI SB0844 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Enrolled

Michigan Senate Bill 844 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Criminal procedure; other; date on which criminal justice policy commission expires; extend. Amends sec. 33a, ch. IX of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 769.33a).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-12-31 - Assigned Pa 576'18 With Immediate Effect 12/31/18 Addenda [SB0844 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2017-SB0844-Enrolled.html

STATE OF MICHIGAN

99TH LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2018

Introduced by Senators Proos, Bieda, Gregory, Booher, Colbeck, Brandenburg, Hansen, Emmons and Conyers

ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 844

AN ACT to amend 1927 PA 175, entitled “An act to revise, consolidate, and codify the laws relating to criminal procedure and to define the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of courts, judges, and other officers of the court under the provisions of this act; to provide laws relative to the rights of persons accused of criminal offenses and ordinance violations; to provide for the arrest of persons charged with or suspected of criminal offenses and ordinance violations; to provide for bail of persons arrested for or accused of criminal offenses and ordinance violations; to provide for the examination of persons accused of criminal offenses; to regulate the procedure relative to grand juries, indictments, informations, and proceedings before trial; to provide for trials of persons complained of or indicted for criminal offenses and ordinance violations and to provide for the procedure in those trials; to provide for judgments and sentences of persons convicted of criminal offenses and ordinance violations; to establish a sentencing commission and to prescribe its powers and duties; to provide for procedure relating to new trials and appeals in criminal and ordinance violation cases; to provide a uniform system of probation throughout this state and the appointment of probation officers; to prescribe the powers, duties, and compensation of probation officers; to provide penalties for the violation of the duties of probation officers; to provide for procedure governing proceedings to prevent crime and proceedings for the discovery of crime; to provide for fees of officers, witnesses, and others in criminal and ordinance violation cases; to set forth miscellaneous provisions as to criminal procedure in certain cases; to provide penalties for the violation of certain provisions of this act; and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with or contravening any of the provisions of this act,” by amending section 33a of chapter IX (MCL 769.33a), as added by 2014 PA 465.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

CHAPTER IX

Sec. 33a. (1) The criminal justice policy commission shall do all of the following:

(a) Collect, prepare, analyze, and disseminate information regarding state and local sentencing and proposed release policies and practices for felonies and the use of prisons and jails.

(b) Collect and analyze information concerning how misdemeanor sentences and the detention of defendants pending trial affect local jails.

(c) Conduct ongoing research regarding the effectiveness of the sentencing guidelines in achieving the purposes set forth in subdivision (f).

(d) In cooperation with the department of corrections, collect, analyze, and compile data and make projections regarding the populations and capacities of state and local correctional facilities, the impact of the sentencing guidelines and other laws, rules, and policies on those populations and capacities, and the effectiveness of efforts to reduce recidivism. Measurement of recidivism shall include, as applicable, analysis of all of the following:

(i) Rearrest rates, resentence rates, and return to prison rates.

(ii) One-, 2-, and 3-year intervals after exiting prison or jail and after entering probation.

(iii) The statewide level, and by locality and discrete program, to the extent practicable.

(e) In cooperation with the state court administrator, collect, analyze, and compile data regarding the effect of sentencing guidelines on the caseload, docket flow, and case backlog of the trial and appellate courts of this state.

(f) Develop modifications to the sentencing guidelines for recommendation to the legislature. Any modifications to the sentencing guidelines shall accomplish all of the following:

(i) Provide for the protection of the public.

(ii) Consider offenses involving violence against a person or serious and substantial pecuniary loss as more severe than other offenses.

(iii) Be proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and the offender’s prior criminal record.

(iv) Reduce sentencing disparities based on factors other than offense characteristics and offender characteristics and ensure that offenders with similar offense and offender characteristics receive substantially similar sentences.

(v) Specify the circumstances under which a term of imprisonment is proper and the circumstances under which intermediate sanctions are proper.

(vi) Establish sentence ranges for imprisonment that are within the minimum and maximum sentences allowed by law for the offenses to which the ranges apply.

(vii) Maintain separate sentence ranges for convictions under the habitual offender provisions in sections 10, 11, 12, and 13 of this chapter, which may include as an aggravating factor, among other relevant considerations, that the accused has engaged in a pattern of proven or admitted criminal behavior.

(viii) Establish sentence ranges that the commission considers appropriate.

(ix) Recognize the availability of beds in the local corrections system and that the local corrections system is an equal partner in corrections policy, and preserve its funding mechanisms.

(g) Consider the suitability and impact of offense variable scoring with regard to physical and psychological injury to victims and victims’ families.

(2) In developing proposed modifications to the sentencing guidelines, the commission shall submit to the legislature a prison and jail impact report relating to any modifications to the sentencing guidelines. The report shall include the projected impact on total capacity of state and local correctional facilities.

(3) Proposed modifications to sentencing guidelines shall include recommended intermediate sanctions for each case in which the upper limit of the recommended minimum sentence range is 18 months or less.

(4) The commission may recommend modifications for submission to the legislature to any law, administrative rule, or policy that affects sentencing or the use and length of incarceration. The recommendations shall reflect all of the following policies:

(a) To render sentences in all cases within a range of severity proportionate to the gravity of offenses, the harms done to crime victims, and the blameworthiness of offenders.

(b) When reasonably feasible, to achieve offender rehabilitation, general deterrence, incapacitation of dangerous offenders, restoration of crime victims and communities, and reintegration of offenders into the law-abiding community.

(d) To preserve judicial discretion to individualize sentences within a framework of law.

(e) To produce sentences that are uniform in their reasoned pursuit of the objectives described in subsection (1).

(f) To eliminate inequities in sentencing and length of incarceration across population groups.

(g) To encourage the use of intermediate sanctions.

(h) To ensure that adequate resources are available for carrying out sentences imposed and that rational priorities are established for the use of those resources.

(i) To promote research on sentencing policy and practices, including assessments of the effectiveness of criminal sanctions as measured against their purposes.

(j) To increase the transparency of the sentencing and corrections system, its accountability to the public, and the legitimacy of its operations.

(5) The commission shall submit any recommended modifications to the sentencing guidelines or to other laws, administrative rules, or policies to the senate majority leader, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the governor.

(6) This section and section 32a of this chapter are repealed September 30, 2019.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Secretary of the Senate

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Approved

Governor