RAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Despite a 22% drop in arrests statewide in the past decade, tens of thousands of people are still being jailed for nonviolent offenses like failure to appear in court, possessing marijuana and shoplifting, a new report concludes.
The Pew Charitable Trusts presented its report in Grand Rapids Friday to the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration, a bi-partisan group created by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for criminal justice reform.
Comparing data from 2008 through 2018, researchers found officers are arresting people more for offenses they would have ticketed them for in previous years, and arrests far outnumber citations, even for low-level crimes.
Four West Michigan counties are among the 21 counties where arrest rates rose: Muskegon, Newaygo, Calhoun and Oceana counties.
Researchers also took a sample of jail data from 2016 through 2018 provided by sheriff’s offices in 20 counties, including Allegan, Branch, Mason, Oceana, Muskegon and Kent counties. They found that while admissions dropped about 1.5% over the past three years, rural counties had the highest admission rates and suburban counties had the lowest.