A new report issued today shows disparities in the way people of color have their cases referred for prosecution in Washtenaw County.
The report from the Prosecutor Transparency Project analyzed cases referred to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office from 2017 to 2022.
Black people appeared in just under 50% of requests for charges despite making up about 12% of the county, while requests for prosecution of whites was 47.8% while making up 70%.
Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney Eli Savit says the next step is to drill down into the findings.
“The researchers ran quantitative, aggregate, regressions to control for factors, like the severity of a case. But what they didn’t do was go through and look at the evidence that is in any particular case.”
The analysis did not find evidence of racial disparities in programs which allows young defendants to avoid a criminal record.
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