Notes from March 10, 2021 Ann Arbor Rotary Meeting

After a fun Rotary social half hour, Lori Walters reminded us how important it is for each of us to stay muted on Zoom during our meeting. Lori also told it has been a full year since we have met in person due to the pandemic.

President Joanne called the meeting to order at 12:30 PM. Tom Strode was unable to be with us, today, but he led us in a beautiful rendition of “America the Beautiful” via video.

Agnes Reading gave our inspiration. In honor of our speaker, she read the following three quotes:
• “Most prosecutors’ offices lack any manual or guidebook advising prosecutors how to make discretionary decisions. Even the American Bar Association’s standards of practice for prosecutors are purely aspirational; no prosecutor is required to follow the standards or even consider them.” -Michelle Alexander
• “For any prosecutor, a decision to show leniency in sentencing must be weighed against multiple factors. Do they show remorse for their actions? Do they intend to contribute to society?” -Brianna Wu
• “I love doing bank robberies, drug cases, homicides – as a prosecutor, that’s what I thought I going to be overseeing when I got to the Bureau.” -Robert Mueller

Joe Diederich provided a very fun video. Background music was “Once in a While” by the Chimes, recorded in 1961. We saw pictures of lots of reminders of the 60’s – old cars, Elvis, and movie posters.

President Joanne thanked everyone that made today’s meeting happen. She also announced this week’s birthdays.

Marcia Lane gave announcements for the Anti-Racism Committee (ARC) and the Peace Committee.

Peace Committee
Our Rotary Club donated to a local nonprofit, “Visions” who made the documentary, “Warrior Lawyers: Defenders of Sacred Justice”. The documentary provides an overview of historical, social, and tribal justice issues challenging Native American Nations. Justice Timothy Connor’s Ann Arbor Peacemaking Court is profiled in the project. It will be distributed to the PBS system later this month. Individual PBS stations will choose their own dates/times.

RCAA’s Peace Pole will be installed in Gallup Park near the all-access playground. The Peace Pole will include a translation of “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in the 8 languages most commonly spoken in the Ann Arbor community.

Plans have begun for the next Rotary Peace Conference, March 11-12, 2022 at the Michigan League. Our club will be partnering with others; a planning committee is meeting twice a month. Contact Marcia Lane or Ashish Sarkar if you are interested in participating.

There will be no Rob Northrup humanitarian award this year. A call for nominations for next year will be coming soon.

Anti-Racism Committee
You are invited to attend either or both of two meetings. The ARC Inside Look discussion group meets on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 1:30 via Zoom. The next meeting is March 23. The topic is “How disadvantaged children and youth in our community are affected by racism, and two organizations working to help – Girls Group and The Family Learning Institute.

The second meeting is a business meeting that meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 1:30 via Zoom. The committee is working to implement a high-level Strategic Plan with 5 major goals. For a Zoom link to attend either meeting or for more information, contact Marcia Lane – mlane0407@gmail.com

President Joanne announced Rotary Fights Hunger Month. Food Gatherers data as of January 2021 shows that food pantry visits are up 300%; 40% of food pantry visitors never used a food pantry before; child food insecurity in Washtenaw County is projected to rise by 101%. Our club’s stretch goal is 150,000 meals. The drive is entirely virtual this year and focused on raising monetary donations. To donate, go to https://give.foodgatherers.org/ge/rotary

It’s Rotaract Week. University of Michigan Rotaract Club was chartered in 2004. Anne Curzon, Dean of LSA, spoke at last evening’s Rotaract meeting. Rotaractors are working on; a service project with Glacier Hills, helping with English lessons at Grace English School, tutoring, Rent a Rotaractor, service with the Honduras Child Alliance. They have weekly coffee hours with the Executive Board. There are 22 mentor/mentee pairs with our Club. Contact Bev Seiford if you are interested in joining the Rotaract Committee.

There are 14 bite-sized jobs listed in the Harpoon – great way to make a big difference with very little time commitment.

Our speaker:
Dennis Powers introduced our speaker Eli Savit, Washtenaw County’s new Prosecuting Attorney. Mr. Savit spoke to us on “Reimaging the Prosecuting Attorney’s Role”.

Mr. Savit – The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is looking forward to make changes in the Office to build a legal system that promotes fairness and equity at the same time keeping us safer. In the past, often the goals of fairness/equity and safety were pitted against each other.

A little background: The United States locks up more people per capita than any other country. Blacks are six times more likely for felony charges than others. The costs are not born equally. This is important because the result is not just a loss of time spent in jail or prison but there are also cascading consequences that can hold someone back for the remainder of their life. These include the loss of ability to get jobs, housing and obtain an education.

If you add up all of the people with criminal records in the United States, it is more that the population of Canada, or the population of France, or 3 times the population of Australia.

Mr. Savit referenced a book, The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander. The author explains that the Jim Crow laws held black people back from opportunities that other people had. She suggests that our legal system has created a process by which the consequences of a felony resemble what Jim Crow did in the aftermath of the Civil War. People with a felony charge have difficulty getting housing, jobs and an education.

Mr. Savit said that the argument might be made that we are promoting public safety which he said is “false”. If this were true, we should be the safest country, but that we are nowhere close to being the safest. Denying opportunity to those with a criminal record “makes us less safe”.

Mr. Savit was sworn in as Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney on January 1, 2021. His challenge was to rethink the criminal justice system. Democrats and Republicans in Michigan have not agreed on many things in recent years except criminal justice reform.

Most decisions regarding the handing of criminal justice are made by the prosecutors. They make discretionary decisions to charge or seek treatment or rehabilitation for the offender. 97% of the cases are resolved by plea bargaining. This creates a situation where the prosecutor is judge and jury. The Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office is moving towards a rehabilitation approach which is “safer in the long term”.

In the past, there were zero tolerance policies with no external considerations. The first to be addressed since January 1 is policy towards gun crimes. Mr. Savit said that there was a case where a woman was depressed and suicidal; told her partner that she was going to a park to kill herself. Her partner called the police and the woman was found on property that was part of school property. She was arrested and charged with a felony because she had a gun.

In the future, the department will look at the individual circumstances. Public safety will be a priority but they will also look at the individual facts. Sending a person to jail or prison can make the situation worse if it is a case of substance abuse or mental health. There will be an effort to get the person into a special problem-solving court where there is more collaboration. Or hold the charges and directly get them into treatment.

Many young offenders may age out of crime. The hope is to get many young people into programs or treatments. If they do the right thing, the charges will be dropped. The outcome that is desired is to get these people the help they need and to avoid a criminal record.

Washtenaw County will be the first county in Michigan to eliminate cash bail. The poor or working class may be sitting in jail awaiting trial because they cannot afford bail while people with money can buy their way out. Everyone should not go free pending trial. Anyone who poses a danger to the community will be held. But wealth will not play a role. There may be other limitations of those that are allowed to leave pending trial such as drug testing and tethers. Communities that have done this, have not seen a serious rise in crimes of skipping town. Again, public safety and equity are not in tension with each other.

There are many other possibilities that are being studied including new ways of dispute resolution, new positions in the Sheriff’s Office, LEAD programs, connecting to resources. The office is looking at community partners for kids needs and individualized plans.

Another issue being studied – a restorative justice model. Restorative justice can be used when the crime is not one of public safety. The survivor of the crime is given the choice of working with the defendant. If the defendant is willing and able, the charges are held. After extensive preparation, the survivor and defendant come together to talk. The objective is that the defendant acknowledge the harm caused and accept responsibility. This model has been used in Brooklyn, NY with great success. 90% of the survivors chose this alternative to going to court. Recidivism has been significantly reduced. If the process of restorative justice does not work, then the defendant will go through the normal criminal system.

Mr. Savit stayed past the end of the meeting for questions and answers.

Next week, our speaker will be Susan Gott, University Planner. The topic will be “UM Campus, past, present, and future”.

President Joanne ended the meeting with a quote from George Bernard Shaw – “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM
99 people attended today’s meeting

Carol Senneff
Reporter