Houselessness and housing insecurity, unemployment, inadequate access to public transportation, lack of mental health and drug treatment resources, and an ongoing assault on federal, state, and local services for the poor and people with mental illness are the national and local crises we need to face. It is gravely unjust to police and penalize folks for “crimes” that are nothing more than outgrowths of these systemic failures. 

People with mental illness are disproportionately represented in the Criminal Punishment System nationally and specifically in Michigan. Recent screenings of jail admission samples in several Michigan counties estimated that 23% of those entering jails had a serious mental illness. Policies such as cash bail create a vicious cycle between poverty and involvement in the criminal punishment system, as people with less access to financial resources are more likely to be incarcerated pretrial and thus experience fallout related to employment, residential stability, and family, in addition to an increased likelihood of being incarcerated. By criminalizing and enforcing the most minor citations, police and prosecutors in Washtenaw County participate in magnifying and entrenching, not reducing, the impacts of poverty and mental illness. Failing to appear in court and pay fines and fees also come with devastating consequences that can spiral for system-involved individuals. 

DEMANDS

The Prosecutor must: 

• Prevent social workers from becoming an arm and accomplice to law enforcement by demanding firewalls between prosecuting offices and social service agencies, as well as the police, other law enforcement agencies, hospitals, Department of Children/Family Services, public housing, and any other state investigative agency.

• In place of prosecution, provide options and resources on a consent-basis for people with self-identified or suspected mental illness. 

• End cash bail. 

• Do not prosecute for homelessness, vagrancy, and loitering and instead divert community members to resources and services. 

• Do not prosecute sex workers. 

• Do not prosecute trespass violations.

• Decline to prosecute any criminal charges that arise from traffic related offenses (jaywalking, not having a license, driving with suspended license or warrants, or failure to appear or pay fines and court costs.)

• Divert those with substance use challenges to treatment programs. 

• Commit to partnering with harm reduction organizers, experts, and practitioners to create harm reduction community based treatment and use models (safe injection sites, naloxone and other opioid antagonist interventions, access to community based medication assisted treatments).

The Prosecutor must advocate for:

• Ending the use of arrests and use of force by police against people who are experiencing mental health crises.