Lansing Sun

Rep. Graham Filler (R-DeWitt), who served as a Michigan's assistant attorney general from 2011 to 2018, wants criminal justice reform in the state to be informed by the view that the punishment should fit the crime.

In a column published on the Michigan House Republicans website, Filler leaned on his experience as assistant attorney general in informing his view that laws should seek to be fair and just, with the severity of punishment tied directly to the severity of the crime.

“This philosophy is one of the driving forces behind many of the recent criminal justice reforms I have helped initiate in the Michigan Legislature,” Filler wrote in his opinion piece. “Most recently, it influenced bipartisan legislation to reduce penalties for certain low-level crimes.”

Rep. Graham Filler | Michigan House Republicans

By taking offenses that are currently treated as low-level misdemeanors and reclassifying them as civil infractions, the reforms that Filler endorses would create more appropriate penalties for those offenses, he wrote.

“We’re not talking about violent crimes, but minor violations anyone could commit -- things like license plate violations, improperly displaying a snowmobile registration or failing to attach a name and address to a fishing tip-up, hunting blind or tree stand,” Filler wrote.

Such offenses now could result in an offender being jailed and fined. Instead, the proposed reforms would result in those offenses resulting in no more than a $150 fine.

Filler offered the experience of a Jackson County man who placed his snowmobile registration on the back of the snowmobile instead of the front. The man had intentionally placed the registration in the wrong location due to losing two previous decals during use of the snowmobile.

“The man had purchased three registration decals in three years, even though one registration is valid for three years,” Filler wrote. “He was clearly trying to comply with the law, yet he still faced a misdemeanor, which would have been detrimental to his career. He had to pay substantial attorney costs simply to keep his job and his livelihood.”

The proposed reforms recently passed the House and are currently under consideration by the Senate.