Symposium: "Balancing Our Priorities: Can We Safely Spend Less on Corrections"

Faced with an ever-deepening fiscal crisis, Michigan is searching for ways to reduce the budget of the Department of Corrections. The decision of the Granholm administration to parole more people has been criticized by some as a threat to public safety. Corrections employees and communities where prisons are located oppose the facility closings. Legislators are sharply divided between those who want to reduce the prison population and those who want to privatize prison services. Community-based programs intended to reduce crime are starved for funds.

Last year, the Prisons & Corrections Section and four other organizations sponsored a well-received, half-day symposium in Lansing that addressed these questions. The Section is now presenting an updated and expanded version at a location convenient for those in Southeast Michigan, the beautiful Inn at St. John's. The symposium is open to any member of the criminal justice community and should be of interest to defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, probation and parole staff, treatment personnel, community service providers and members of law enforcement.

Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., breakfast and lunch included
Location: The Inn at St. John's, Plymouth
Cost: $45 for Section members; $65 for non-Section members (with membership included)

• Registration Form
• Program
• Announcement

Other News

• Michigan Supreme Court amicus brief filed in Glover v Parole Board PDF
• What Should "Parolable Life" Mean? PDF Judges Respond to the Controversy (Report of survey conducted by the Section--March 2002)