Blog

The Detroit Justice Center (DJC) is excited to invite you to our upcoming Mental Health Partner Convening, a dynamic one-and-a-half-day event focused on mental wellness, decriminalizing substance use, and harm reduction in Detroit and Wayne County. This convening will bring together advocates, service providers, organizers, and community leaders committed to creating a healthier, more just Detroit for all. This convening is a collaboration of the Detroit Justice Center; Michigan Liberation; ANSWER Detroit; Free People, Free People; the Moratorium NOW! Coalition; and Wayne State University Center for Behavioral Health and Justice.   Convening Dates, Times & Location: Wednesday, December 11, 2024 – 4:00pm – 7:00pm Thursday, December 12, 2024 – 8:30am – 5:00pm Location: Focus: HOPE, 1400 Oakman Blvd, Detroit, MI 48238 This convening is an opportunity to strengthen collaboration across sectors, build connections, and explore new solutions to the urgent challenges facing our communities. Why Attend? We’ve spent nearly two years conducting an ecosystem scan and research to better understand the state of mental health, substance use, and harm reduction services in Detroit. This convening builds on that work and invites participants to engage in deeper conversations about how we can better support people in need of care while reducing...Read More

The Detroit Justice Center is committed to creating equitable and just cities, meaning cities where everyone’s needs are met, and the entire population is cared for and provided for in equal measure. During our bi-weekly staff meeting this week, we were taking stock of our feelings going into election day. We were all encouraged by the reality that no matter the outcome of the election, our fight and our purpose remain the same–to meet the demands of movements and communities. Our strength lies in solidarity, in utilizing our expertise to respond to present needs, and in dreaming of new paths to community safety and well-being.  Regardless of election outcomes, we know that rent is 20% higher than in 2020, housing insecurity and food prices are on the rise, and police killings of civilians have increased since 2020. People’s desire for stability and safety are not being met across the board by our two-party system, and we know that it is a fallacy to look to our elected officials to do what mutual aid and communities of care can and have been accomplishing.  Still, in this present moment, we must make space for grief. As a Black woman-led organization, we are...Read More

The Detroit Justice Center (DJC) stands in solidarity with the pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (U of M) who are facing criminal charges from the Michigan Office of the Attorney General (MIOAG). While the Attorney General’s Office claims that they are overseeing these cases because they are “multijurisdictional”, all of the charges took place in Washtenaw County. This escalation to the state level is a misuse of power and leads us to believe that these protesters are being politically targeted as we have seen in several instances at university campuses across the country.  Since our inception, DJC has called for the defunding and dismantling of our broken policing system; in the case of these protests, law enforcement acted as a militarized force against marginalized communities and their allies. In an official statement from the MIOAG, AG Dana Nessel is quoted as saying, “Our laws everywhere are designed to make safe communities and encourage respectful coexistence.” Community safety does not entail police in riot gear pepper spraying peaceful protesters and sending them to the hospital with concussions, respiratory distress, and broken bones.  Our organization is dedicated to building more equitable and just cities, and we see our...Read More

In early October, our Economic Equity attorneys, Mark J Bennett, and Eric Williams, traveled to Minneapolis for the first-ever Midwest Community Land Trust (CLT) Conference. We spoke with Mark about his time at the conference and how it might influence our CLT work here in Detroit. 1. You recently attended the 2024 Midwest Community Land Trust Conference in Minneapolis. This was the first conference of its kind. What is it about the present moment that brought people together to discuss CLTs? Is there a bigger movement for this kind of development? MJB: The dramatically growing need for affordable housing is driving Community Development Organization (CDO) to find permanent solutions to servicing this need.  24 States were represented at the conference as CLTs do this uniquely. 2. What new or surprising information did you learn about CLTs at the conference? MJB: The most surprising thing was learning how far behind Detroit and the State of Michigan generally is in having CLT-supportive policies in place which in turn drive funding and land into the CDOs to create and grow CLTs. 3. Obviously, in Detroit, we have a lot of vacant land, but is there a difference in why CLTs are created here...Read More

Our legal services attorneys have noticed that many of our clients face similar issues in Michigan housing law. We created this handy one-pager that lays out common issues people might face, the MI laws pertaining to them, and potential remedies to the issues.Read More

In order to build a just city, we must begin by prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable, unlike what we’re currently seeing in Detroit. We cannot continue to allow billionaires to profit from the misery of incarcerating our communities while we wait for policymakers to address issues like housing and food insecurity.Read More

Last week, The LOVE Building celebrated its grand opening with events from Tuesday through Friday. As a tenant partner in the LOVE Building, we were thrilled to participate in the festivities. Our brilliant Community Legal Advocate, Lauren Thomas, coordinated events for our office.Read More

DJC’s Metro Detroit Restorative Justice Network (MDRJN) concluded its third Community Circle Keeper Training on Saturday, July 14th! Over five weeks, 14 participants from various fields, including peer mental health crisis response, abolition, public education, legal system, higher education, counseling, and community organizing, gathered in a circle to learn about restorative justice. Read More

This month marks the 45th anniversary of the first Black August. We're using this time to uplift the work of our former legal director, who fought against mass incarceration for decades.Read More