Michigan Reform Movement
The Michigan Campaign for Justice, a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, is a broad-based group of organizations and individuals from across the political spectrum fighting for a fair and effective public defense system in Michigan. See www.micampaignforjustice.org.
The Michigan Public Defense Task Force, founded in 2001, is comprised of criminal and juvenile justice professionals, as well as concerned citizens from all walks of life, working to secure a legislative solution to Michigan's critically ill defense services system. See www.mipublicdefense.org.
The State Bar of Michigan, the professional association to which all Michigan attorneys must belong, endorsed in 2005 the Eleven Principles of a Public Defense System. The Bar's Committee on Assigned Counsel Standards developed Standards for [Trial Level] Assigned Counsel, August 17, 1996. The Bar's Representative Assembly declined to adopt them, April 26, 1997. See also www.michbar.org/publicpolicy
The Michigan Legislature adopted in 2006 Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 39, calling for study of Michigan's public defense system by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA).