Under the new laws, courts won’t be allowed to assess court fines and fees on juveniles going through the criminal justice system.
Young people will soon also have more access to behavioral health and risk-assessment screenings to divert them from detention.
Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist signed the bills into law. He says the state’s current system has been letting children down.
“Every system that does something other than prepare a young person to be successful is a system that desperately needs to be reformed. And that is what this whole effort represents.”
The bi-partisan sponsored package resulted from last year’s recommendations of the “Michigan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform.”
