Cohort 2022

One Love Global

Transforming Prosecution in Ingham County, Michigan

Ingham County (Lansing), MI

Data on prosecutions in Lansing, Michigan, in 2019 shared by the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office showed significant racial disparities in interactions with the criminal legal system. Although Lansing’s population is 11 percent Black and 70 percent white, Black people there are 1.7 times more likely than white people to be stopped by police and 3 times more likely to be searched. They also account for 56 percent of prosecution cases. In 2019, 37 percent of misdemeanor cases were filed against Black people and 51 percent against white people, and 50 percent of felony cases were filed against Black people and 41 percent against white people. Though those data showed that policy changes in the prosecutor’s office had helped reduce prosecuted cases, racial disparities remained unchanged. These disparities have a devastating impact on Black people in Lansing and on the city itself.

With Catalyst Grant funding, One Love Global will launch a Black-led, survivor-led, community-led organizing and education campaign to highlight criminal legal system disparities in Ingham County. To advance data-driven transparency and racial equity in prosecution, One Love Global is creating “people’s assemblies” through which Black community members and allies can cogovern, learn, and engage in democratic decisionmaking. Lessons, stories, and recommendations from the assemblies will be compiled and developed into clear, concise, visually appealing content that can be shared across social media platforms. One Love Global will also collect prosecution data from the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office and qualitative data from community members to update the Lansing Racial Equity Scorecard, a results-based accountability tool. It will distribute the information widely to community members, local leaders, and government officials.