Genesee News

Genesee County GOP Chairman Koen Driesen thinks there can be few losers from a series of bills recently introduced aimed at reducing recidivism and boosting the economy.

“I think there could be some good positive things to come out of it,” Driesen told the Genesee News. “I believe the longer a person is in the system and in jail, the recidivism rate is much higher. Some of these people can be rehabilitated and put on a treatment and given a second chance, but it has to be done in a judicious way.”

A bipartisan group of legislators are behind the latest efforts to alter the way the state of Michigan monitors people who have been convicted of committing crimes. The ultimate goal of the legislation is to make the act of expungement, or the process of clearing one’s criminal history, an easier and less-complicated undertaking.   

“I think it’s a good idea and I think that there’s a connection with the fact that we’ve gotten away from putting money in mental health throughout the years,” Driesen said. “Some of these folks could have benefited from good mental health prevention in the beginning. For offenders with this being their first offense, this is something that shouldn’t haunt someone their whole life and have it be an impediment to getting that career that could possibly give them an extra boost." 

As it is, Mackinac Center for Public Policy Senior Strategists for State Affairs David Guenthner thinks too many Michigan area residents are left twisting in the wind.

“People who have committed crimes should be punished in a manner appropriate to the harm they have caused,” he said in a press release. “But once people have completed their sentences and shown over time that they are dedicated to a law-abiding path, they deserve the opportunity to get out from under their past mistakes. Unfortunately, too many Michiganders continue to be deprived of jobs and suitable housing due to decades-old criminal convictions, many for minor offenses.”

Driesen agrees and thinks there must be a better way.

“There’s definitely a connection to we’ve gotten away from the early intervention,” he said. “We had mental health hospitals in '50s, '60s and '70s where we had hundreds of thousands of people and now we’ve got only 50,000 that are in the mental health hospitals. It’s not that we’ve got less people breaking the law, they’ve just been put into prison. People that repeat offenses should be put away. This law will be put toward people who I believe have less-serious offenses and haven’t done any harm to people.”