Special Report: Michigan Built a $150M Court Tech System. The Legislature Won’t Fund the Upkeep.
Courts & Technology · Judicial Infrastructure Key Takeaways 260 of Michigan’s 302 trial courts are now live on the JIS…
Rita Williams
Rita Williams is a Michigan-based judicial oversight analyst and founder of Clutch Justice, an investigative platform focused on court system accountability, sentencing integrity, and SCAO policy. Her work examines how courts, policies, and administrative systems operate in practice, with a focus on where process breaks down and harm is created. Drawing on lived experience and systems-level analysis, she writes to make legal structures more readable, expose institutional gaps, and advocate for reforms grounded in both evidence and human impact. Rita’s writing bridges legal analysis, institutional critique, and public education, with a consistent focus on accountability without losing sight of the people most affected by the justice system.
Michigan Legal News Roundup: Remote Judges, MiFILE Control, and Voter Data Fight
Michigan Legal Roundup Week of March 16–20, 2026 This week’s developments share a common thread: Michigan’s legal institutions are drawing…
Michigan Trial Court Funding Reform: Who Controls the Courts When the Money Moves?
Michigan’s Trial Court Funding Concept Paper proposes to restructure how trial courts are funded by reducing dependence on local appropriations…
Just Because a Judge Held a Sentencing Doesn’t Mean It Was Right | Rita Williams
A sentencing that occurred is not the same as a sentencing that was lawful. Across Michigan courtrooms, people are sentenced…
Who Is Rita Williams? Michigan Judicial Oversight and the Clutch Justice Project
Rita Williams is an investigative journalist, systems analyst, and doctoral candidate focused on Michigan courts, judicial oversight, and institutional accountability…
Whole Pie 2026: Why Local Courts Drive the 96.5% Conviction Machine
The national conversation about mass incarceration focuses on prisons. The Prison Policy Initiative’s Whole Pie 2026 report shows why that…
The Centralia Files, Part I: The Fire That Never Became an Emergency | Rita Williams
The Centralia Files Part I of VII — The Fire That Never Became an Emergency Managed Abandonment · Pennsylvania Coal…
The Operation Drive Paradox: Michigan Courts Fund License Restoration While Fines Still Drive Suspensions
Michigan courts just granted $1 million to help residents restore suspended driver’s licenses. The same court system operates funding structures…
Beccaria and the Betrayal of Classical Theory: What a 260-Year-Old Framework Reveals About Modern Sentencing Failures
In 1764, Cesare Beccaria argued that punishment exceeding what is necessary to deter crime is not justice but cruelty expressed…
The Shadow Regulation of Michigan Courts: How SCAO Guidance Quietly Shapes Trial Court Policy | Rita Williams
Most people assume the rules governing Michigan courts are visible: statutes are published, court rules are debated in public, judicial…
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