The Power of Prosecutors

Michigan is facing an incarceration crisis that is tearing apart families, fueling racial injustice, and costing the state billions — while at the same time failing to improve public safety.

No single person has more power in Michigan to bring this crisis to an end than your PROSECUTING ATTORNEY — a locally elected official, who decides who to charge, what to charge, and ultimately how many people sit behind bars. And they work for you.

Find out which candidates in your community support the ACLU of Michigan’s Smart Justice platform, which aims to make our justice system truly just, and create safer communities for everyone.

The ACLU of Michigan is a nonpartisan organization and does not support or endorse candidates.

Your County’s Race

Select a county to view candidates:

Meet the Candidates for: Oakland County

These are the candidates for Oakland County. Below are links to their full questionnaire response which contains questions not shown in addition to those featured here.

An asterisk indicates that a candidate did not provide a yes or no response. Expand the answer to see if a written response was provided.

Candidates

 
Jessica Cooper
+
Full Response:  
 
Lin Goetz
+
Full Response:  
 
Karen McDonald
+
Full Response:  

Marijuana Expungement

Will you support marijuana expungement applications for amounts that are now legal, and support statewide legislation that creates automatic and retroactive expungement of marijuana charges?

 more info

In 2018, Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana, but more than 10,000 Michigan residents have convictions for marijuana offenses that are now legal. Of the ten states that have legalized recreational marijuana, Michigan is one of only two states that does not provide a pathway to clearing these convictions. By supporting expungement applications, and advocating for statewide automatic and retroactive marijuana expungement, prosecuting attorneys can help reduce the number of people ensnared in the criminal legal system.

Citation

Jessica Cooper
 
+
No Response
Lin Goetz
no
+
As prosecutor, I will support the law. Any and all expungement applications will be evaluated on the merits of the request, and the law that applies at that time.
Karen McDonald
yes
+
People should not be held accountable for marijuana possession that has now been made legal. If elected, I will not only cease prosecution of new marijuana possession charges, but also work to expunge past marijuana possession charges.

Juvenile Justice

Will you decline to seek life without the possibility of parole, including for any person under 18 at the time of the offense?

 more info

We know that most people who engaged in risky behavior or criminal activity in their youth don’t continue to do so as adults. That is why the United States Supreme Court in a series of landmark decisions declared that mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional and directed the resentencing of all juvenile lifers. It is taking years for Michigan to resentence the 360 people serving life without parole sentences for crimes they committed as children. Prosecutors should lead the way by treating youth through a lens of treatment and rehabilitation, seeking to minimize their contact with the criminal legal system.

Jessica Cooper
 
+
Jessica Cooper did not respond to our candidate survey. In an article dated August 26, 2016, Jessica Cooper is quoted as saying:

“We are talking about victims who were stabbed, drowned, bludgeoned and decapitated,” Cooper said. “We are not talking about people who took Dad's car and drove over somebody's lawn. Many of these crimes were totally random. They walked up to a car and decided to shoot in it. On and on and on and on. We are really talking about awful cases.”

To view the full article, visit: https://www.mlive.com/politics/2016/08/michigan_prosecutors_defying_u.html
Lin Goetz
 
+
Please see my answer above.
Karen McDonald
yes
+
As mandated by the Supreme Court, children should not face prison for the rest of their lives for offenses they committed under the age of 18. Except in extremely rare instances, I believe that all children, though they must be held accountable for crimes, deserve the chance to safely rehabilitate into society.

Alternatives to Incarceration

Will you invest in alternatives to incarceration for people with mental illness, people with substance use disorders, indigent defendants, and veterans?

 more info

Too many people who are incarcerated have underlying issues that are not being addressed while they are behind bars. A 2010 University of Michigan study found that 77% of the male general prison population had mental health symptoms for which no services were available, and 86% of the Michigan prison population were identified as having a history of substance use disorder. This same study estimated that two-thirds of people in prison who were experiencing mental health symptoms were not receiving services. By investing in alternatives to incarceration, prosecutors can prevent people from ever entering the criminal legal system--and provide the necessary support and treatment that people too often lack.

Citation: American Civil Liberties Union. (2018). Blueprint for Smart Justice: Michigan.

Jessica Cooper
 
+
Jessica Cooper did not respond to our candidate survey. At a candidate forum on June 4, 2020 Jessica Cooper was asked this question and she replied:

"The more interesting thing about these therapeutic courts is that Oakland county was not certified by the Supreme Court until 2018...because of the pandemic we don't know what we'll be able to pursue."

To hear her full response, visit: https://www.facebook.com/ocdp.mi/videos/2791029524336107/
Lin Goetz
 
+
Unfortunately, we have a State that is facing huge deficits due to covid-19. It is likely the County will also have financial deficits to address. Therefore, there may not be funds to invest available. However, that does not lesson my commitment to prosecutor participation and support of our treatment courts, veterans treatment courts, mental health treatment or in dealing fairly with low income participants in the criminal justice system. It just means we will have to be innovative with the staff and finances as they exist when I take office.
Karen McDonald
yes
+
Our current prosecutor refuses to participate in veterans and treatment courts, despite the availability of treatment programs in Oakland County. As prosecutor, I will not only invest in these courts, but also establish new mental health courts to ensure that all Oakland County residents receive the treatment and resources they need to succeed.

Police Accountability

Will your office appoint an independent investigator in all cases of police-involved shootings and make the investigation findings transparent when deciding whether to charge the officer with a crime?

 more info

Police officers and prosecuting attorneys are both law enforcement officers--and these offices often have very close working relationships. However, just as prosecutors need to be held accountable, so too do police officers. When a police officer is accused of using excessive force or engaging in patterns of misconduct, prosecuting attorneys must investigate the allegations, and make the findings of that investigation public. To instill public confidence that these cases are not tainted by the close working relationship between police and prosecutors, investigations and prosecution of police officers should be independent, impartial, and transparent.

Jessica Cooper
yes
+
Jessica Cooper did not respond to our candidate survey. At a candidate forum on June 4, 2020 Jessica Cooper was asked this question and she replied:

"This would be the codification of something that has been going on for a very long time...when we're talking about all of this what we want to do is get rid of conflict, so we automatically go to the Attorney General's office."

To hear her full response, visit: https://www.facebook.com/ocdp.mi/videos/2791029524336107/
Lin Goetz
no
+
There are protocols already in place for review of police involved shootings from the way a scene is handled all the way to presentation for the prosecutor's office to review. In addition, the prosecutor's office has investigators on staff should additional information need to be developed or new information reviewed. Finally, should a conflict of interest arise, the prosecutor may request for a different office to handle the case.
Karen McDonald
yes
+
Appointing an independent investigator and making investigation findings transparent are crucial if we are to limit interdepartmental corruption and ensure that justice is done in all cases of police-involved offenses.

Racial Justice

Do you believe that prosecutorial practices have been responsible for racial disparities in the criminal legal system?

 more info

Michigan’s criminal legal system unfairly targets and incarcerates people of color. And we know that prosecutorial policies and actions often exacerbate these disparities.Michigan’s Black and Brown communities suffer the most from our incarceration crisis. Of the 64,000 people incarcerated in Michigan jails and prisons, nearly 54% are Black, despite making up only 14% of the state’s population. Black residents are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white people. We need prosecutors committed to uncovering racial disparities and proactively addressing those disparities where they arise.

Citation: American Civil Liberties Union. (2018). Blueprint for Smart Justice: Michigan.

Jessica Cooper
 
+
Jessica Cooper did not respond to our candidate survey. At a candidate forum on June 4, 2020 Jessica Cooper was asked this question and she replied:

"We never see anything that has to do with that type of racial disparity...if there is a disparity with defendants, then most times there is a disparity with the victims."

To hear her full response, visit: https://www.facebook.com/ocdp.mi/videos/2791029524336107/

Lin Goetz
 
+
Racial disparities in the criminal legal system are the result of a number of different factors. History plays a part. People have obvious or more latent biases in many positions throughout our community, throughout groups within our communities, and throughout various positions in the criminal justice system. I do think, however, that a prosecutor, as the chief legal officer in a county, can make a difference in this area.
Karen McDonald
yes
+
Despite the fact that people of color make up a small number of our nation’s population, they are grossly overrepresented in our racist, wealth-based criminal justice system. Much of that is due to biased prosecutorial practices like cash bail and unnecessary incarceration for minor drug and traffic related offenses.

Primary ELECTION: AUGUST 4, 2020

© 2020 by ACLU of MICHIGAN.