INTRODUCTION The purpose of this article is to determine the legal right of Michigan residents to access financial records from courts in Michigan. In a recent research project conducted by faculty members at Central Michigan University, working with undergraduate and graduate students, certain financial data was requested from Michigan courts. Specifically, the research focused on data relating to fines and costs for civil infractions that are both imposed by and collected by the courts. The requests sought data regarding the types of civil infraction citations issued and the amounts of the statutory fines and costs collected by each court. The purpose of the research was to compare the fines and costs collected for civil infractions in each county within the state of Michigan. (1)
