Advocates and survivors of domestic violence gathered at the Michigan House Office Building on Wednesday, Sept. 16. They pushed for a bill that would let courts revisit prison sentences when abuse played a role in someone's crime.

The proposed Michigan Survivors Justice Act would create a legal process for judges to reconsider sentences where a defendant's history of domestic or sexual violence was not fully weighed at the original sentencing. The bill has not yet received a number in the Legislature.

Heath Lowry, a staff attorney and public policy specialist for the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, said the measure would add a mitigation option to Michigan's sentencing guidelines that does not exist now. He told WLNS the bill is modeled after similar laws already enacted in Georgia and Oklahoma.

"It's a bill that takes into account victimization when sentencing someone to a term in prison … That means survivors can have the abuse against them taken into account to reduce their sentence," Lowry said at the Sept. 16 session.

Lowry said the bill has drawn bipartisan support. No sponsors have been named publicly.

Quiana Lovett, a domestic violence survivor who served 16 years in prison for killing her abuser, spoke at the session. Lovett said that if a law like the Survivors Justice Act had been in place, many of the women she was incarcerated with could have received shorter sentences.

Ellie Williams, legal director for the Justice for Incarcerated Survivors Program in Georgia, also spoke. Williams said at the session that Georgia's version of the law has been "very positively received."

The Michigan Survivors Justice Initiative organized the informational session, as WILX reported, to address how the legal system punishes people who are also victims of violence.

Four states have already enacted similar legislation with bipartisan support: Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Oklahoma, according to the R Street Institute, a policy research organization. In New York, at least 71 people have received reduced sentences since that state's law took effect in 2019. In Oklahoma, the first person freed under the law was a woman who had served 34 years of a life sentence for her role in the death of her abuser.

Michigan law enforcement agencies recorded more than 68,000 domestic violence incidents in 2024, producing over 74,000 victims, according to Michigan State Police data cited by the R Street Institute.

Lowry said the Sept. 16 session was part of a broader push to build support before the bill advances. Advocates plan to continue bringing survivors' stories directly to lawmakers in the weeks ahead, though no committee hearing date has been set. Residents can follow the bill's progress through the Michigan Legislature's website.