Wayne County Criminal Procedure
These pages explain how criminal cases move through Wayne County, with emphasis on felony practice in Detroit and the Wayne County Criminal Justice Center (CJC), located at 5301 Russell Street, Detroit, Michigan. The Third Judicial Circuit Court, Criminal Division, now handles criminal division matters at the CJC.
The Criminal Justice Center in Detroit
The Wayne County Criminal Justice Center is a consolidated courthouse and corrections complex that houses key criminal justice agencies, including the Third Judicial Circuit Court, Criminal Division. The move consolidated operations from older downtown facilities, including the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, into a single criminal justice campus.
If you have a felony in Wayne County, the early stages of the case usually begin in a district court. If the case is bound over after preliminary proceedings, it proceeds into the Third Circuit Court criminal process in Detroit.
Where felony cases start, Wayne County District Courts
Preliminary matters begin in Wayne County district courts. Wayne County includes twenty numbered district courts (16th through 36th), covering different cities and townships, plus municipal courts in the Grosse Pointe communities. The 36th District Court in Detroit is the largest district court in Michigan.
The numbered district courts include 16th (Livonia), 17th (Redford), 18th (Westland), 19th (Dearborn), 20th (Dearborn Heights), 21st (Garden City), 22nd (Inkster), 23rd (Taylor), 24th (Allen Park/Melvindale), 25th (Lincoln Park/River Rouge/Ecorse), 27th (Wyandotte/Riverview), 28th (Southgate), 29th (Wayne), 30th (Highland Park), 31st (Hamtramck), 32A (Harper Woods), 33rd (Woodhaven), 34th (Romulus), 35th (Plymouth), and 36th (Detroit).