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State Bar of Michigan Criminal Issues Initiative

Table of Contents

ARRESTS AND CONVICTIONS

How many arrests occur each year in Michigan?

Table 1(A)—Michigan Crime Rates 1970-2008

Where do the arrests occur?

How many Michigan residents have felony, misdemeanor, or juvenile convictions?

How many convictions happen in Michigan each year?

Where do the convictions occur?

POVERTY

What is the poverty line in Michigan?

Table 2(A)—U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

How many live below the poverty line?

Table 2(B)(i)—U.S. Census Bureau, Michigan Poverty Rates, 2005

Table 2(B)(ii)—Percent of People Below Poverty Level in 2007

Table 2(B)(iii)—Press Release Excerpts

What are the foreclosure rates in Michigan?

Table 2(C)(i)—U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State—November 2009

Table 2(C)(ii)—Top 10 U.S. Metro Foreclosure Market Data, Properties with Foreclosure Filings, 3^rd Quarter 2009

How many homeless veterans are in Michigan?

Table 2(D)—Number of Homeless Veterans and VA Beds by State, 2006

RESIDENCY

How many non-citizens live in Michigan?

Table 3(A)—Profile of Selected Social Characteristics: 2000

How many illegal aliens live in Michigan?

Table 3(B)—FAIR Extended Immigration Data for Michigan

How many people residing in Michigan would need a translator?

Table 3(C)(i)—U.S. Census 2007 Estimates

Table 3(C)(ii)—Estimated Deaf/Hard of Hearing Populations by Michigan Counties, February, 2005

How many Native Americans live in Michigan?

Table 3(D)—2006 Michigan Race-Ethnic Population Estimates

LITERACY

What is the extent of illiteracy in Michigan?

Table 4(A)—Indirect estimate of percent lacking basic prose literacy skills and corresponding credible intervals in all counties: Michigan 2003

1. Arrests and Convictions

A. How many arrests occur in Michigan each year?

The Michigan Uniform Crime Report (MUCR) is an annual report released by the Michigan State Police. The MUCR compiles the total arrests in a given year from every Michigan county and then organizes the data into statewide and county crime reports. The report is linked to a search engine which allows the user to narrow arrest reports to criteria such as the type of crime, age of arrestees, and gender and race of arrestees.

The most recent general arrest information available is from 2009, with six months of preliminary data available from 2010, and the most recent full MUCR report providing detailed statistics is from 2006.

• In 2006, there were a total of 301,169 adults arrested in Michigan. In 2007, there were a total of 295,796 adults arrested.
• Michigan juveniles (aged 16 or fewer years) arrested in 2006 was 30,352. The total Michigan juveniles arrested in 2007 was 27,145.
• The largest number of arrests for a particular offense in 2006 was 106,590 for the category “all other offenses including drunkenness and vagrancy.”
• Other notable arrest totals in 2006 include 47,461 for Driving Under the Influence (DUI); followed by narcotic violations at 32,409; assault at 32,405; and larceny at 27,128.

Comprehensive Arrest Reports from the Prior 10 Years

In order to provide a better picture of how many people are arrested in Michigan each year, arrest reports were run through the MUCR database for the last ten years. Total arrests over the ten year period from 1997 to 2007 were averaged to yield an average arrest per year in Michigan during that time period.

• The average arrest total for adults between the years 1997 and 2007 is 332,165 per year.
• The average arrest total for juveniles (16 and younger) between the years 1997 and 2007 is 30,532 per year.

Table 1(A)—Michigan Crime Rates 1970–2008

B. Where do Michigan arrests occur?

Arrests by county are compiled annually. Wayne County had the highest number of arrests in 2008 with a total 65,113, or 21% of the total arrests in Michigan,^[1] a decrease from both 2007 where there were 71,970 arrests, and from 2006 which had 75,195 arrests. Keweenaw County had the fewest arrests in 2008 with 30.

C. How many Michigan residents have felony, misdemeanor, or juvenile convictions?

Attempts were made to collect this information from several sources, including the Michigan State Police Records Division, the Michigan State Court Administrative Office, and the Michigan Department of Corrections.

All sources contacted indicated that these data are not collected by any of the governmental departments. The police keep detailed information on arrests, the Department of Corrections monitors individuals who have been sentenced to prison or parole, and the State Court Administrative Office compiles detailed information on case disposition, but not convictions. These data on dispositions do not necessarily correspond to the number of people with a criminal record because individuals are at times disposed with more than one offense.

Numerous obstacles to obtaining these data exist. If the data were to become available for a particular year, there is a lack of historical information to allow for the accumulation of the information over time to be reviewed in context. An identification number would have to be used that links cases so that individual re-offenders are not counted more than once. Additional assumptions would have to be made about migration from the state and mortality rates of ex-offenders.

D. How many convictions occur in Michigan each year?

Accurate data do not exist that reliably state the total number of convictions in Michigan each year.

The State Court Administrative Office compiles a yearly account of dispositions within the state. While disposition data is available from circuit courts and district courts, convictions are not compiled as part of the record. The data available are quite detailed and it is possible to determine how many felony or misdemeanor counts were disposed of by guilty pleas, bench trials, or jury trials within a given year.

This does not directly correspond with the actual number of convictions in any given year in Michigan and any number obtained by this method would only represent an estimate, and illustrate the basis for obtaining a broad approximation of convictions in Michigan, for which, as previously noted, discrete and sound data do not exist.

Possible discrepancies that might result from this method, for example, are the inability to link a particular disposition to an arrest. Additionally, if an arrest occurs in a different year than the year the disposition for such arrest is recorded, multiple counts charged after one arrest would appear as multiple pleas.

2: Poverty

A. What is the poverty line in Michigan?

The United States Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds are the same nationwide, with no separate figures for different states, metropolitan areas, or cities.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services determined that in 2006 the poverty line was $9,800 for a single person, or $19,350 for a four person family. In 2009, the poverty level was $10,830 for a single individual, and $22,050 for a four person family.

Table 2(A)—U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

B. How many Michigan residents live below the poverty line?

The Census Bureau estimates that in 2005, there were 1,292,315 Michigan residents living in poverty, or 13% of the population, slightly higher than the national average of 12% at the time.

While the U.S. Census Bureau has not released detailed poverty rates past 2005, current estimates of the percentage of Michigan residents living in poverty are available. Michigan’s poverty rate in 2008 was 14.4%, a more than a full percentage increase from 2005. The national average also rose a full point in the same period of time. For comparison of Michigan versus the rest of the nation, the 2007 poverty estimates are provided at Table 2(B)(iii).

A 2008 U.S. Census Bureau press release sheds light on the likely increase of Michigan residents living in poverty in the immediate future. While the median household income rose during the sample period of 2006 to 2007 in 33 states, the release highlights Michigan as the only state in the nation to experience a decline in household income during the period. Michigan was also the only state in the nation to see an increase in the state poverty rate during the same period.

Table 2(B)(i)—U.S. Census Bureau, Michigan Poverty Rates, 2005

Table 2(B)(ii)—Percent of People Below Poverty Level in 2007

Table 2(B)(iii)—Press Release Excerpts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, AUG. 26, 2008, 10:10 A.M. EDT

Household Income Rises, Poverty Rate Unchanged, Number of Uninsured Down

Real median household income in the United States climbed 1.3 percent between 2006 and 2007, reaching $50,233, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the third annual increase in real median household income . . . . Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate in 2007 was 12.5 percent, not statistically different from 2006.

***
American Community Survey (ACS) (Provides state, county, and city statistics)
***

Income

• In the 2007 ACS, median household income ranged from $68,080 for Maryland to $36,338 for Mississippi. (The median income for Mississippi was not significantly different from that for West Virginia.)
• Median household incomes for 18 states and the District of Columbia were above the U.S. median in 2007, while 29 states were below it. Three states had 2007 median household incomes that were not statistically different from the U.S. median.
• Real median household income rose between the 2006 ACS and the 2007 ACS for 33 states, while one state (Michigan) experienced a decline (emphasis added).

***

Poverty

• In the 2007 ACS, among states and the District of Columbia, poverty rates ranged from 7.1 percent for New Hampshire to 20.6 percent for Mississippi.
• In the 2007 ACS, there were 29 states in which poverty rates were lower than the national average; for 17 states and the District of Columbia, they were higher.
• For 12 states and the District of Columbia, poverty rates declined from the 2006 to the 2007 ACS: Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah. The only state where the poverty rate increased was Michigan (emphasis added).

C. What are the foreclosure rates in Michigan?

In 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association estimated that 1 out of every 200 homes will be foreclosed upon, resulting in 250,000 new foreclosures every three months.

Recent years have shown a sharp increase in foreclosure filings. According to Realtytrac’s 2009 Foreclosure Report (Table 2(C)(i)), in the United States there were 306,627 total foreclosure filings in 2009. This was an 18% increase from 2008. Between 2007-2008, there was an 81% increase in foreclosure filings, and remarkably, between 2006-2007 there was a 225% increase from 2006 foreclosure filings.

Michigan had the 6^th most foreclosure filings in the country in 2009, with 15,988 new filings and a 2009 total of 106,058 properties with filings. Michigan’s largest metropolitan area (Detroit, Livonia, Dearborn) had a high foreclosure rate of 4.52% (Table 2(C)(ii)) and was ranked tenth in the country for U.S. metro market foreclosures in 2008. The 2008 figure of 4.52% reflects a decrease of 7.67% from 2007 rates. As of the third quarter of 2009, however, Detroit had fallen to 40^th in the nation; conversely, Lansing-East Lansing area was specifically mentioned as a new “foreclosure hot-spot” because of its 41 percent year-over-year rise in foreclosure activity.^[3]

Table 2(C)(i)—U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State—November 2009

*Actual increase may not be as high due to data collection changes or improvements

**Collection of records classified as Notice of Default (NOD) began in August 2009 because of change in state law
† Collection of some records previously classified as NOD in this state was discontinued starting in January 2009

Table 2(C)(ii)—Top 10 U.S. Metro Foreclosure Market Data Properties with Foreclosure Filings—3^rd Quarter 2009

* This data can be read as “One out of every X housing units has a foreclosure filing in this metro area.”
** Collection of records classified as Notice of Default (NOD) began in August 2009 because of change in state law
† Collection of some records previously classified as NOD in this state was discontinued starting in January 2009

D. How many homeless veterans are in Michigan?

Due to the nature of homelessness, statistics estimating the number of homeless veterans at any given point vary greatly. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2008 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report estimates that on an average night in January 2008, there were 664,414 homeless people in the United States. The United States Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) estimates that on any given night, 131,000 of those who are homeless are veterans (male and female), or 19% of the homeless population.

Other estimates pin the overall percentage of homeless veterans vs. homed non-veterans at a much higher ratio. The National Coalition for the Homeless states that approximately 40% of homeless men are veterans.

While there is relatively little state-specific information regarding homeless veterans available, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans has estimated the number of homeless veterans for each state. The Coalition estimates that there were 3,513 homeless veterans in Michigan during 2006 (Table 2(D). However, it is important to note that the Coalition’s national estimate of homeless veterans is higher than the VA’s estimate by roughly 50,000, so the state-specific estimates may be overbroad.

Table 2(D)—Number of Homeless Veterans and VA Beds by State, 2006

3: Residency

A. How many non-citizens live in Michigan?

The U.S. Census Bureau 2000 Census Report estimates that of the roughly 10,000,000 people living in Michigan, 7,490,125 are Michigan residents. A large portion of the individuals living in Michigan who are not residents is comprised of:

• 1,867,691 people living in Michigan who are residents of states other than Michigan; and
• 283,634 individuals who are not U.S. citizens

Table 3(A)—Profile of Selected Social Characteristics: 2000

B. How many illegal aliens live in Michigan?

There is no definitive source for current illegal alien estimates for Michigan. The 2000 Census estimated that there were around 70,000 illegal aliens residing in the state. An organization called FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform) has developed a formula they claim accurately estimates the number of illegal aliens residing in a given state.  FAIR’s estimate for Michigan shows 200,000 illegal aliens residing within state boarders. However, it should be noted that the FAIR formula does not compensate for the varying matriculation numbers for individual states.

Table 3(B)—FAIR Extended Immigration Data for Michigan

C. How many people residing in Michigan would need a language translator in court?

While there is no source for an estimated number of people in Michigan who would require an interpreter if they were to appear in court, data exist that ascertain the varying degrees of English proficiency within the state, along with the number of individuals who are hearing impaired.

A 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimate which provides that there are roughly 850,865 Michigan residents to whom English is not their primary language.^[4] Of those 850,865 people, 322,362 speak English less than “very well.” However, speaking English less than “very well” does not automatically qualify an individual as for a court provided translator.

A 2005 report compiled by the Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth estimates that there are around 90,000 deaf individuals living in Michigan.^[5] The report also provides an estimate for deaf individuals by county, as well as the state total.

Table 3(C)(i)—U.S. Census 2007 Estimates

Table 3(C)(ii)—Estimated Deaf/Hard of Hearing Populations by Michigan Counties

February, 2005

D. How many Native Americans live in Michigan?

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that as of 2006, there were 60,820 Native Americans living in Michigan.

Table 3(D)—2006 Michigan Race-Ethnic Population Estimates

4. Literacy

A: What is the extent of illiteracy in Michigan?

There have been three comprehensive studies conducted on the extent of illiteracy in the United States in the past 30 years. The first study, the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), was a literacy survey conducted by the Department of Education in 1992 and again in 2003. The survey was based on interviews of approximately 26,000 individuals, and was reported at the national level. The NALS used a set of questions designed to test an individual’s ability to comprehend prose literacy (the ability to understand and use information contained in various kinds of textual material), document literacy (the ability to process information from charts, tables, schedules, and the like), and quantitative literacy (the ability to take a set of figures located throughout a document and compute them into useful knowledge, such as balancing a checkbook).

Each question was given a numerical value, and based on the individual’s total score, they were placed into a level of literacy. Level 1 is the lowest level of literacy, and the NALS found that roughly 21-23 percent of American adults function at a level 1 literacy level. It is important to note that Level 1 is not classified as “illiterate,” but rather

“[t]hough all adults in this level displayed limited skills, their characteristics are diverse. Many adults in this level performed simple, routine tasks involving brief and uncomplicated texts and documents. For example, they were able to total an entry on a deposit slip, locate the time or place of a meeting on a form, and identify a piece of specific information in a brief news article. Others were unable to perform these types of tasks, and some had such limited skills that they were unable to respond to much of the survey.”

NALS also evaluated the literacy proficiency of inmates in federal and state prisons. One thousand individuals within the prison population were surveyed for the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey. The prison population scored significantly lower than the rest of the population, with the majority of individuals scoring within Levels 1 and 2.

In 1998, The State of Illiteracy in America study was conducted to better understand the literacy proficiency of individuals at state and local levels. The study used statistics from NALS, combined with information from the 1990 U.S. Census, to estimate literacy at a much narrower scope. The estimates were based on a model that predicted Level 1 NALS proficiency levels from demographic characteristics such as English proficiency, income level, education, and other factors.

The State of Illiteracy in America estimates that 18% of Michigan’s population functions at a Level 1 literacy proficiency level, the national average hovering around 21% to 23% of the population functioning at this level. In Michigan, the two counties with the highest level of residents estimated to be at Level 1 proficiency are Lake County and Wayne County. The 1993 NALS study further estimates literacy levels at municipalities within the state with populations of over 5,000 people. Benton Harbor (57%), Highland Park (56%), and Detroit (47%) top the list of estimated residents with Level 1 literacy proficiency levels.

In 2003, the National Center for Education Statistics conducted a survey of roughly 19,000 individuals in an attempt to determine the progress (or decline) of literacy proficiency since the 1992 NALS survey. The study was titled the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (2003 NALS), and used the same basic testing principles as used in the 1992 survey. The study did not place proficiency levels in the same format as the 1992 survey using numerical indicators; rather, it rates participants on four performance levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. The study used small area estimation techniques to arrive at literacy estimates for counties and original samples.

The 2003 NALS findings show that while there been a slight decrease in prose literacy and document literacy between 1992 and 2003, the changes are not significant (see, page 58). There has, however, been an increase in the average quantitative proficiency levels of 9 points. Experts suggest this is likely due to the vast increase in the use of computers by the general population over the period. As more adults are using computers, abilities to synthesize large amounts data are also increasing.

For Michigan estimates of literacy, see Michigan literacy estimates by county, and by Michigan municipality.

Table 4(A)—Indirect estimate of percent lacking basic prose literacy skills^[6] and corresponding credible intervals in all counties: Michigan 2003