Our Progress
Over the last four years, our team has been:
Prioritizing Treatment and Rehabilitation
The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office has become a recognized leader in promoting rehabilitation. Under Eli’s leadership—and working with community and system partners—the Prosecutor’s Office has implemented multiple new programs providing rehabilitative “off-ramps” to the criminal system.
These programs work. Those who participate in these rehabilitative programs are significantly less likely to reoffend than those who go through the traditional criminal legal system. Indeed, a recent study of the Prosecutor’s pre-plea diversion program indicated that not a single defendant was re-arrested in the 6 months following completion of the program.
Rehabilitative programs implemented during Eli’s first term include:
Pre-Plea Diversion: Washtenaw County now boasts Michigan’s only pre-plea diversion program, which allows those accused of lower-level offenses to access rehabilitative services without ever pleading guilty to a crime.
Survivor-centered restorative justice: Partnering with the Dispute Resolution Center, the Prosecutor’s Office’s restorative justice program allows survivors of a crime to opt for restorative justice, if participation would not harm public safety.
If—and only if—survivors opt for restorative justice, the survivor and the person who committed harm can work together with a trained mediator to reach an individualized solution for how the survivor can be made whole.Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion and Deflection (LEADD): In partnership with the Sheriff’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, and Community Mental Health, the LEADD programs allows individuals accused of low-level offenses to access behavioral health services without ever being formally charged.
Specialized Alternative to Sentencing Support (SASS): In partnership with Ypsilanti’s Corner Health Center, this rehabilitative program allows young caregivers to access programming addressing root-cause issues—including behavioral health, job-training, and mentorship services. The program helps keep families together and sets caregivers and their children up for success.
Problem-Solving Courts: The Prosecutor’s Office actively supports and participates in various “problem-solving courts” which allow people access to rehabilitative services in lieu of traditional probation or incarceration. These include Veterans’ Court, Mental Health Court, Sobriety Court, and Drug Court.
Targeting Crime that Harms our Community
Under Eli’s leadership, the Prosecutor’s Office has focused on serious crime that harms our community. During Eli’s first term—as the office worked its way out from COVID-related backlogs—the Prosecutor’s Office charged and obtained convictions in dozens of death cases, including multiple cases involving gun violence and vehicular deaths.
The Prosecutor’s Office also now maintains a dedicated special victims unit with a dedicated supervisor, focusing on cases involving sexual violence. Dedicated domestic-violence attorneys also now handle serious domestic-violence related cases.
The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative team has investigated and charged multiple “cold case” sexual assault cases—including at least one individual suspected of having been a serial rapist, who is currently serving a 28-46 year prison sentence.
Supporting Victims of Crime
Eli has redoubled the Prosecutor’s Office’s focus on serving victims, particularly victims who may be particularly vulnerable. Among other things, the Prosecutor’s Office has made victims’ rights materials available in multiple languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Dari, Korean, and Mandarin. The Prosecutor’s Office also maintains a partnership with the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, so that survivors of human trafficking may access free legal services relating to immigration, family issues, or old criminal convictions.
In 2021, the Prosecutor’s Office entered into a partnership with Fair Michigan to prosecute hate crimes alleged to have been committed as a result of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Also that year, the Prosecutor’s Office implemented its Transgender Interaction Policy, which makes all employees responsible for creating an atmosphere of respect for transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming victims, witnesses, and defendants.
Promoting Equity and Transparency
Immediately upon taking office, Eli implemented multiple new policies geared towards ensuring equitable treatment in our justice system. These include polices related to so-called “pretext stops” (where individuals are stopped as a pretext for searching them or their car), juvenile justice, and immigration-related issues.
A full list of the policies enacted since Eli took office is available here.
In partnership with the ACLU, the University of Michigan Law School, and University of Michigan Poverty Solutions, the Prosecutor’s Office launched the Prosecutor Transparency Project. In 2024, the Project released multi-year analysis of racial disparities in Washtenaw County’s prosecutorial system. The Prosecutor Transparency Project is one of the most robust racial-disparities analyses to have been conducted in the nation, and is available for the public to read here.
Securing Community Resources
We cannot do this work alone. Under Eli’s leadership, the Prosecutor’s Office has secured over $3 million in government and philanthropic grants to be re-invested in the community. These include grants that promote re-entry services for those returning home from jail and prison, grants focused on domestic-violence prevention, and grants geared towards providing wraparound services for families in need.
Fighting for Economic Justice
Eli created Washtenaw County’s first-ever Economic Justice Unit, which focuses specifically on unlawful exploitation of workers and consumers. The Economic Justice Unit is the only unit of its kind in a prosecutor’s office in Michigan, and has entered into collaborative working relationships with both the state and federal government to ensure that corporations are held accountable for harm done to workers and consumers.
Addressing Past Wrongs and Providing Clean Slates
During Eli’s first term, he established Washtenaw County’s first-ever Conviction Integrity and Expungement Unit (CIEU). The CIEU serves two functions. First, it investigates and remediates old wrongful convictions, including convictions in which the evidence indicates a person was actually innocent of the crime for which they were convicted.
Second, working with community partners, the CIEU assists those who are legally eligible to clear—or “expunge”—old criminal records. To date, the CIEU has assisted over 1,000 residents in the expungement process, allowing people to access jobs, housing, and employment opportunities.
Standing for our Rights, and Fighting for our Community
Eli has been a statewide and national leader in fighting for the rights of all people. In 2022, working with a coalition of 7 county prosecutors, he litigated alongside Governor Whitmer to overturn Michigan’s antiquated abortion ban. As prosecutor, he has litigated at every level of the state and federal judiciary to protect reproductive freedom—including leading national coalitions of prosecutors and police leaders to advocate for abortion rights at the United States Supreme Court.
Eli has also led both statewide and national coalitions supporting the LGBTQ+ community. In 2021, alongside a coalition of 8 county prosecutors, he urged the Michigan Supreme Court to rule that Michigan’s civil rights law prohibits sexual-orientation discrimination. And in 2023, he led a coalition of 81 cities, counties, and local government officials in urging the federal courts of appeals to uphold the rights of transgender children and their families to seek gender-affirming care.
This year, joined by a bipartisan coalition of 17 county prosecutors, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office urged the Michigan Supreme Court to revitalize consumer rights in Michigan. And under Eli's leadership, the Prosecutor’s Office has regularly joined coalitions litigating for gun safety, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, workers’ rights, and other issues important to our community.
See the full scope of the Office’s litigation efforts here.