Past and present Governor candidates from Michigan: on Crime


Abdul El-Sayed: Move from prison to productive citizenship

The growth of Michigan's prison system has created a volatile prison environment that harms prisoners as well as corrections officers, staff, and communities. Michigan has an incarceration rate 11% higher than the national average. More importantly, Michigan's incarceration rates for African-Americans compared to white Americans remains far higher than the national average (6.6:1 compared to 5:1 nationally). Yet, our crime rates are not lower and our communities are not safer.
    As governor, I will commit to reforming the Michigan criminal justice system through five policy priorities:
  1. Reducing sentence length
  2. Reducing the prison population
  3. Improving prison conditions
  4. Supporting returning citizens
  5. Improving hiring and training standards for police to end police violence.
By targeting these areas, we can move more Michiganders from prison to productive citizenship, while reducing the biases that undermine our systems of criminal justice and law enforcement.
Source: 2018 Michigan Governor campaign website AbdulForMichigan.com Mar 21, 2018

Gretchen Whitmer: Cleaned up County Prosecutor office after a sex scandal

Whitmer served for twelve years in the State House and Senate. Whitmer, who most recently served for six months as Ingham County Prosecutor after the former prosecutor was arrested in a sex scandal, says she cleaned up that office and has big picture plans for Michigan.

Whitmer says she holds state government mostly accountable for a lack of oversight in the Flint water crisis and says that kind of thing would not have happened on her watch.

Source: WWMT-Newschannel-3 on 2018 Michigan Gubernatorial race Jan 24, 2017

Mark Schauer: Restore funding for police & fire

Rick Snyder's drastic cuts to Michigan's communities are hurting cities and towns across the state, forcing deep cuts to basic services like police, fire protection, and infrastructure.

To improve Michigan's economy, Mark knows we need strong cities and safe communities to attract a talented workforce and high-tech business investment. That's why Mark fought for legislation to help communities hire additional police officers, and purchase new fire trucks--manufactured right here in Michigan.

As Governor, Mark will work to reverse Gov. Snyder's cuts to local revenue sharing, and improve public safety. He'll also fight for greater investment in our roads, and work to modernize our aging infrastructure.

Source: 2014 Michigan gubernatorial campaign website MarkSchauer.com Dec 20, 2013

Rick Snyder: Improve legal representation for poor

A new commission will investigate how to improve legal representation provided to low-income criminal defendants in Michigan.

This is needed because the quality of legal representation provided to defendants who are unable to pay for their own legal defense varies greatly across the state. A core principle of our criminal justice system is to guarantee that an individual charged with a crime be entitled to legal representation, even if they are unable to hire private counsel.

Source: Michigan 2011 gubernatorial press release, #264039 Oct 13, 2011

Rick Snyder: Collect prisoner DNA samples to help solve cold cases

Prisoners will be required to provide DNA samples at the beginning of their sentence instead of just before being released.

Senate Bill 346 requires collection of a prisoner's DNA sample within three months of incarceration, which will help police solve cold cases sooner by giving them the ability to match samples to other unsolved crimes, identify suspects and then interrogate prisoners while they are still in custody. This will bring relief to victims of violent crimes and their families.

Source: Michigan 2011 gubernatorial press release, #259717 Jul 21, 2011

Rick Snyder: Parole decisions by Dept. of Corrections, not Governor

Responsibility for parole decisions is now out of the governor's office and back to the Department of Corrections. The move is aimed at streamlining government and allowing more efficient implementation of corrections policies by the department director.

We need to let the professionals in the corrections department determine whether it's appropriate to release prisoners. This change will remove an unneeded layer of bureaucracy and save taxpayers money.

Source: Michigan 2011 gubernatorial press release, #251086 Feb 7, 2011

  • The above quotations are from Winners and Losers
    Gubernatorial candidates from Michigan.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Crime.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
Candidates and political leaders on Crime:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Aug 12, 2018