diff --git a/backend/engine/plugins/detekt/main.py b/backend/engine/plugins/detekt/main.py
index 8eb365f7..2effba81 100644
--- a/backend/engine/plugins/detekt/main.py
+++ b/backend/engine/plugins/detekt/main.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import json
 import os
 import subprocess
+from typing import List
 import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
 
 from engine.plugins.lib import utils
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ def run_detekt(path=None):
         output["details"] = _parse_report(path, detekt_report)
     # If there was an error
     else:
+        logger.error(f"Detekt exited with code {result.returncode}: {stderr}")
         output["success"] = False
         output["errors"] = ["The detekt plugin encountered a fatal error"]
 
@@ -95,7 +97,9 @@ def _run_detekt_command(config_file: str, path: str, report_file: str):
     )
 
 
-def _parse_report(path: str, xml_report: str) -> dict:
+# Note: Need to use typing.List here since the java:17 container ships
+#       with Python 3.8.
+def _parse_report(path: str, xml_report: str) -> List[dict]:
     """
     Parse the XML report producted by detekt into a Python dictionary
     """
@@ -135,6 +139,9 @@ def _parse_severity(detekt_severity: str) -> str:
         severity = "medium"
     elif detekt_severity == "info":
         severity = "low"
+    else:
+        logger.error(f"Unrecognized severity: {detekt_severity}")
+        severity = ""
 
     return severity
 
diff --git a/backend/engine/plugins/eslint/main.py b/backend/engine/plugins/eslint/main.py
index 309ce30f..4492b38d 100644
--- a/backend/engine/plugins/eslint/main.py
+++ b/backend/engine/plugins/eslint/main.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 module running eslint on javascript/typescript files
 """
 
+from dataclasses import dataclass
 import json
 import subprocess
 
@@ -11,7 +12,13 @@
 log = utils.setup_logging("eslint")
 
 
-def run_eslint(path: str, config: str) -> dict:
+@dataclass
+class Result:
+    data: list[str]
+    info: list[str]
+
+
+def run_eslint(path: str, config: str) -> Result:
     """
     function args: path to directory where code is
     and path to where eslint rcfile
@@ -22,7 +29,6 @@ def run_eslint(path: str, config: str) -> dict:
     1 = successful run. linting errors.
     2 = internal error.
     """
-    result = {}
     cmd = ["eslint", "-f", "json", "--config", config, "--ext", ".js,.jsx,.ts,.tsx", "."]
     completed = subprocess.run(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE, cwd=path, check=False)
     info = []
@@ -33,14 +39,10 @@ def run_eslint(path: str, config: str) -> dict:
 
     data = list(filter(None, completed.stdout.decode("utf-8").split("\n")))
 
-    if data:
-        result["data"] = data
-    if info:
-        result["info"] = info
-    return result
+    return Result(data=data, info=info)
 
 
-def parse_details(scan_data: list, path: str) -> list or None:
+def parse_details(scan_data: list[str], path: str) -> list[dict]:
     """
     takes the argument of scan results and returns a list of results. severity does not align with finding
     severity, but tied to exit code. eslint-plugin-security does not have
@@ -83,9 +85,9 @@ def main():
         args.config = args.eslint_config
 
     scan_results = run_eslint(args.path, args.config)
-    details = parse_details(scan_results.get("data"), args.path)
+    details = parse_details(scan_results.data, args.path)
 
-    print(json.dumps({"success": not details, "details": details, "info": scan_results.get("info")}))
+    print(json.dumps({"success": not details, "details": details, "info": scan_results.info}))
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":