LANSING – In a move to ensure that all Detroit residents receive fair and equal justice, State Representative Shanelle Jackson (D-Detroit) has introduced legislation to restore the Detroit Recorder's Court.
"Recorder's Court needs to be restored in order to address the serious disparities that exist in the new system that are negatively impacting many Detroiters' lives," Jackson said. "It is a basic American right to have a jury of one's peers, including citizens of the same race, and the Detroit Recorder's Court honored that right. That system served us well for more than 150 years, and then it was taken away from us. Now it's time to acknowledge that the new system is delivering justice to some, but not to all."
Detroit Recorder's Court was a unique institution known for its responsive and efficient service to the residents of Michigan's largest city. Unlike other courts, it handled only felony cases. When the state Legislature acted in 1997 to restructure state court funding, it also abolished Detroit Recorder's Court.
To many observers, that decision had racial overtones. Some suspected that abolishing the court was payback for the conviction in Recorder's Court of former Detroit police officers Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers, both white, for the murder of an African American Detroiter, Malice Green. Another possible reason for the abolishment was to discourage the increase in the number of African-American judges, since 22 of the 29 Recorder's Court judges at the time were black – much higher than elsewhere in the state.
"With criminal cases in Detroit now being handled in the Wayne County district system, Detroiters face a greater likelihood of having the rest of their lives decided by jurors and judges who do not share the same background," Jackson said. ''Many times a Wayne County jury has only one Detroiter on it, if any. With Detroiters making up 42 percent of the population of Wayne County, we deserve our own court so we can make sure that the criminal justice system is, indeed, delivering justice to all."