Ensure Transparency and Accountability
CONTEXT
In the United States, prosecutors and police operate with near impunity (free from punishment), and have increasingly gained, not lost, legal protections to allow them to act without oversight. As in much of the country, in Michigan, Police and Fire unions have the right to argue their case in arbitration, meaning police contracts make officers nearly immune to departmental discipline, censure, and removal. Additionally, there is no regularly updated publically available data in Washtenaw County detailing the full scope of the surveillance, arrest, detainment, prosecution, and criminal penalties of community members. The lack of data makes it difficult for community members to organize less harmful interventions, and to seek accountability for the systemic and individual forms of harm caused by police and prosecutors. The Prosecutor’s Office needs to commit to the collection, release, and analysis of comprehensive data that facilitate internal and external accountability.
DEMANDS
The Prosecutor must:
Hold police accountable for killing, injuring, and profiling Washtenaw County residents.
Hold prosecuting attorneys accountable for overcharging and wrongful convictions.
Create and maintain a mechanism of community feedback and oversight.
Expose incidents of malpractice or a culture of harm from within the Prosecutor’s Office to the public
Reduce harms of prior prosecutions through conviction review, sentencing reductions, and the development of legal resources for wrongfully convicted individuals.
Refuse to perpetuate a false narrative of “public safety” that justifies the role of the prosecutor.
Provide open and early access to all information necessary for a case’s defense (discovery).
Commit to transparency by creating and maintaining a publicly accessible interactive data dashboard for adult and juvenile systems. The dashboard should showcase both prosecutor behavior (e.g. bail requests, plea offers, sentencing recommendations) and case outcomes (e.g. bail imposed, case resolution, sentence imposed), and have the option to disaggregate by race, gender, income, geography, and ethnic background as well as by case type.
The Prosecutor must advocate for:
Public education about inconsistent and discriminatory ways in which evidence from body cameras can be used.