Last December, Lt. Gov. Gilchrist signed into law the first substantive changes to the Appellate Defender Act (ADA) since it was originally passed in the 1970s. The new legislation (SB 425) altered the mechanism for reimbursement of MAACS roster attorneys and made some other smaller changes as well. The biggest amendment, though, was the addition of youth defense to SADO’s mandate. Beginning October 1, 2024, MAACS will now be responsible for the assignment of appellate counsel for indigent respondents in juvenile delinquency, traditional waiver, and designated proceeding appeals. Additionally, for the first time, SADO will now take a portion of these appeals.

Despite upwards of 8,000 juvenile delinquency adjudications per year, there are few delinquency appeals. The Gault Center commented on the state of delinquencies appeals in its 2020 report, Overdue for Justice, shining a light on numerous deficiencies in Michigan’s youth defense delivery systems. As part of the report, the Gault Center recommended that delinquency appeals come under SADO’s mandate to provide a uniform system of assignments and compensation to attorneys. This recommendation was echoed by the Governor’s Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform when it released its own report and recommendations in 2022.

In May 2022, SADO launched the Youth Defense Project to help pave the way for reforms to youth defense and work toward implementation of the recommendations regarding delinquency appeals. The Project has hosted several trainings for youth defense attorneys with hundreds of participants; has provided expert knowledge about juvenile delinquencies with public defenders, private practice attorneys, judges, referees, court administrators, and others; has presented on youth defense to various groups; has worked with SCAO on a series of court rule amendments to improve youth defense; and has created a roster of youth defense appellate attorneys. The Project will become a permanent part of MAACS in October 2024.

Project Staff also helped draft SB 425. The amendments to the ADA are a huge change for youth defense. MAACS has been responsible for the assignment of appellate counsel in adult felony appeals for decades and now brings that experience to the juvenile delinquency realm. A centralized system of assignment will provide uniformity to the process across all counties, rates for assigned counsel will be more competitive with criminal cases, and the process will allow for independence from the judiciary.

These ADA amendments were followed up with changes to the Michigan Court Rules to make the process for assigning counsel under MCR 3.993 nearly identical to the process under MCR 6.425. Beginning on October 1, all requests for the assignment of appellate counsel in delinquencies will go through MAACS, which will assign counsel in the same manner as in adult cases. MAACS has already assembled a small roster of attorneys to take these youth defense assignments, though there is always room for more roster attorneys. In January 2025, the first dedicated youth defense assistant appellate defender at SADO will begin taking assignments, and SADO’s Criminal Defense Resource Center is also expanding by adding an attorney who will coordinate future youth defense trainings and create resources for youth defense attorneys.

There is still much work to be done on expanding and improving youth defense throughout Michigan, particularly at the trial level. The Senate has not taken up for a vote HB 4630, which would expand MIDC to oversee trial-level juvenile delinquencies. At least on the appellate side, though, the changes to the ADA and the juvenile court rules are a strong start to the necessary reforms.

Joshua Pease

Youth Defense Project Director, MAACS

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