Safe and Just Michigan is a left-of-center advocacy group that advocates for criminal justice and prison reform in Michigan. Leaders of Safe and Just Michigan have claimed that police started as slave patrols sent to capture runaways, that the “historical racial oppression” is embedded in modern police departments, ¹ and described the U.S. criminal justice system as “impossible, unfair and dehumanizing.” ² Leaders of Safe and Just Michigan have also called for defunding of police departments ³ and reparations for African-Americans. ^{4 5}

Policy Proposals

Safe and Just Michigan advocated for the release of inmates from prison who were deemed to have an “elevated risk” of serious complications from COVID. ⁶ In 2020, the group supported legislation that would have created a presumption of pre-trial release for persons who were not a danger to the public or a flight risk. ⁷ It also supported legislation in 2021 to permit expungement of first-time Operating While Intoxicated offenses. ⁸

Ronnie Waters

Safe and Just Michigan hired Ronnie Waters as its community engagement specialist in 2021. ⁹

Waters was convicted of first-degree murder after killing Deborah Porcelli, a 29-year-old mother, in 1980. Waters received a life sentence but was released in 2020. In the July 28, 2021 press release announcing they had hired Waters, Safe and Just Michigan wrote, “He didn’t want to waste time feeling bitter about the decades he spent incarcerated.” ¹⁰

Safe and Just Michigan described the Porcelli shooting differently from contemporaneous reports. It stated that “Waters thought a stranger inside a car disrespected one of his friends,” and “decided to scare the man in the car with the weapon he thought was incapable of inflicting real harm.” The press release stated that Waters “intended to only startle the stranger wound up killing the man’s wife, who was seated beside him in the passenger seat.” ¹¹

In 1981, describing the shooting, the Detroit Free Press reported that “a group of youths” approached a car at a drive-thru and asked for a light. ¹² When Joseph Porcelli said he didn’t have one, “the youth fired shots into the car.” Earlier, the paper had reported that Waters fired two shots into the car after occupants refused to give the shooter a match. ¹³ The paper also reported in 1980 that the first shot shattered a window which shattered glass and hit Joseph Porcelli in the eye. The second shot was two-to-four seconds later and hit Deborah Porcelli in the head. ¹⁴

Funding

Safe and Just Michigan had $1.4 million in revenue in 2019. ¹⁵ The left-of-center Center for American Progress gave Safe and Just Michigan $50,000 in 2018. ¹⁶

Leadership

John S. Cooper is the executive director of Safe and Just Michigan. He was previously a policy analyst for state Rep. David LaGrand (D-Grand Rapids). ¹⁷

Jennifer Cobbina is on the board of directors for Safe and Just Michigan and is an associate professor at Michigan State University. ¹⁸ Cobbina stated that “racial bias and legalized racial subordination” has compromised efforts to “implement criminal justice.” ¹⁹ Cobbina stated the police operate “with impunity” after “modern-day killing of unarmed black men, women and children.” ²⁰

Cobbina called the Black Lives Matter movement the “largest movement in U.S. history.” ²¹ Cobbina stated that historical racial oppression “plays out in” modern police practices, that police started as slave patrols that terrorized runaway slaves, and that police departments “have upheld and enforced unjust, discriminatory laws for 401 years.” ²² Cobbina said it was necessary to “divest in police and prison expansion” to fix “systemic racism terrorizing the black community” while calling for reparations to Black Americans. ²³

Jonathan Sacks is secretary of the board of directors of Safe and Just Michigan and is the director of the Michigan State Appellate Defender Officer. ²⁴ He has called the U.S. criminal justice system “impossible, unfair, and dehumanizing.” ²⁵

Gary Ashby is a board member of Safe and Just Michigan. ²⁶ He said he supported the divestment of “resources away from policing” and toward education and healthcare. ²⁷ Ashby said he supported reparations “for the suffering inflicted on black people because of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and targeted mass incarceration.” ²⁸

Shari Ware is a board member of Safe and Just Michigan. ²⁹ Ware advocated for state legislators to give public dollars to non-profits that help the needy in an April 12, 2020 op-ed in the Detroit News. ³⁰

Josh Hoe is senior policy analyst at Safe and Just Michigan. He has claimed that the justice system is “too addicted to punishment” and stated, “We have way too many people that we’re putting away for way too many reasons.” ³¹

1. Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
2. Neil Leithauser. “Spotlight On: Jonathan Sacks.” State Appellate Defender Officer. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://www.sado.org/Articles/Article/530
3.  Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” University of Missouri-St. Louis. Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
4. Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” University of Missouri-St. Louis. Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
5. “15th Annual New Year’s Day Prayer Service For Peace.” Pax Christi Lansing, Pax Christi Michigan. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/25376/documents/2021/12/PCL_NewYearPeacePrayer_TheArtoftheCommonGood_121521-3.pdf
6. Michigan State Appellate Defender Office And Criminal Defense Resource Center. “Statement from Safe & Just Michigan Executive Director John Cooper on Gov. Whitmer’s COVID-19 Jails and Juvenile Detention Centers Order.” April 2020. Accessed Feb. 11, 2020. https://www.sado.org/Articles/Article/772
7. “Bipartisan Legislators Intro Bail Reform, Pretrial Civil Rights Protection Bills.” Safe & Just Michigan. Oct. 20, 2021. Accessed Feb. 11, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Introduction_of_Bail_Reform_Legislation_October_20_2021.pdf
8. “Welcome To Clean Slate, Michigan!” State Appellate Defender Office.  April 2021. Accessed Feb. 18, 2022. https://www.sado.org/Articles/Article/891
9. “Meet Our News Community Engagement Specialist Ronnie Waters.” Safe & Just Michigan. July 28, 2021. Accessed Feb. 17, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/2021/07/28/meet-our-new-community-engagement-specialist-ronnie-waters/
10. “Meet Our News Community Engagement Specialist Ronnie Waters.” Safe & Just Michigan. July 28, 2021. Accessed Feb. 17, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/2021/07/28/meet-our-new-community-engagement-specialist-ronnie-waters/
11. “Meet Our News Community Engagement Specialist Ronnie Waters.” Safe & Just Michigan. July 28, 2021. Accessed Feb. 17, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/2021/07/28/meet-our-new-community-engagement-specialist-ronnie-waters/
12. “The Numbing Statistics: 696 Homicides In 1980.” Detroit Free Press. Jan. 11, 1981. Accessed Feb. 17, 2022.
13. “Youth Arrested In Drive-In Slaying.” Detroit Free Press. May 7, 1980. Accessed Feb. 17, 2022.
14. John Castine. Detroit Free Press. “Drive-in Slaying Charge Changed.” Detroit Free Press. Oct. 18, 1980. Accessed Feb. 17, 2022.
15. Safe & Just Michigan, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2019. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/38-3520445
16. Center For American Progress. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2018. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300126510/201912639349301106/full
17. “John S. Cooper.” Michigan Collaborative. Accessed Feb. 11, 2020. https://michigancollaborative.org/Biography/john-s-cooper/
18. “Board of Directors.” Safe & Just Michigan. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/about/board/
19. Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” University of Missouri-St. Louis. Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
20.  Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” University of Missouri-St. Louis. Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
21. Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” University of Missouri-St. Louis. Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
22. Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” University of Missouri-St. Louis. Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
23. Steve Walentik. “Alumna Jennifer Cobbina Discusses The Growth Of The Black Lives Matter Movement As Seen In This Summer’s Protests.” University of Missouri-St. Louis. Aug. 17, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2020/08/17/jennifer-cobbina/
24. “Board of Directors.” Safe & Just Michigan. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/about/board/
25. Neil Leithauser. “Spotlight On: Jonathan Sacks.” State Appellate Defender Officer. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://www.sado.org/Articles/Article/530
26. “Board of Directors.” Safe & Just Michigan. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/about/board/
27. “15th Annual New Year’s Day Prayer Service For Peace.” Pax Christi Lansing, Pax Christi Michigan. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/25376/documents/2021/12/PCL_NewYearPeacePrayer_TheArtoftheCommonGood_121521-3.pdf
28. “15th Annual New Year’s Day Prayer Service For Peace.” Pax Christi Lansing, Pax Christi Michigan. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/25376/documents/2021/12/PCL_NewYearPeacePrayer_TheArtoftheCommonGood_121521-3.pdf
29. “Board of Directors.” Safe & Just Michigan. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://www.safeandjustmi.org/about/board/
30. Shari Ware. “Opinion: Give More Resources To Nonprofits Protecting At-Risk Population.” Detroit News. April 12, 2020. Accessed Feb. 13, 2022. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2020/04/13/opinion-give-more-resources-nonprofits-protecting-risk-population/5130947002/
31. “Carrisa Byrne Hessick – Plea Bargains.” Decarceration Nation podcast. Jan. 31, 2022. Accessed Feb. 11, 2020. https://decarcerationnation.com/120-carissa-byrne-hessick-plea-bargains/