Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office: Racial Equity Study and Criminal Justice Dashboard
Poverty Solutions is partnering with the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office and others on a data-driven project focused on uncovering potential inequities within the prosecutorial system and increasing the transparency and accountability of the system generally. The “Prosecutor Transparency Project” in partnership with the ACLU of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School has two components: a racial equity study and a criminal justice dashboard. The study aims to uncover potential racial inequities through the collection and analysis of data regarding decisions made by the prosecutor’s office, including who is charged with a crime, the nature of the charge, the race of the individual charged, and other crucial information such as plea-bargaining conduct. The results of this project — the first of its kind to be conducted in Michigan — will be shared with the public. Poverty Solutions will take the lead in building a dashboard, which will report metrics from the Prosecutor’s Office as well as other participating agencies.
JJ Prescott, University of Michigan Law School
Trevor Bechtel, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan
Grady Bridges, University of Michigan Law School
Eli Savit, Washtenaw County Prosecutor