Misdemeanor Injustice

Rethinking Prosecutorial Approaches in Misdemeanor Cases

Thursday, December 5th, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET

Our December webinar focuses on improving prosecutorial approaches in misdemeanor cases. Our webinar includes a panel of esteemed experts and practitioners whose work has shaped reforms to misdemeanor prosecutions nationwide. Joining our discussion are:

  • Eli Savit, Prosecuting Attorney, Washtenaw County, MI

  • Alexandra Natapoff, Lee S. Kreindler Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

  • Mitha Nandagopalan, Staff Attorney, Strategic Litigation, The Innocence Project

  • Rachel Marshall (moderator), Executive Director, IIP

Misdemeanors are the most common entry point into the criminal legal system for many people, as misdemeanor cases make up over 80% of all prosecutions. Yet too often discussion on reform focuses solely on felony cases and ignores the significance of misdemeanor cases on the lives of accused persons and victims. Local prosecutors wield an enormous amount of influence over an individual’s trajectory in the justice system through how they approach misdemeanor cases. From decisions about prosecuting nonviolent misdemeanors, to implementing rehabilitative responses to low-level offenses, prosecutors have a tremendous opportunity to be forward-thinking in shaping a more equitable and transparent criminal justice system through their approaches to misdemeanor offenses.

Our conversation equips prosecutors with actionable strategies around misdemeanors to implement in their own jurisdictions.

Eli Savit

Prosecuting Attorney, Washtenaw County, MI

Eli is the Prosecuting Attorney in Washtenaw County, Michigan, and has dedicated this career to public service. He formerly served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was a civil-rights and public-interest attorney, and started his career as a public-school teacher. Most recently, Eli served as the City of Detroit’s senior legal counsel, where he led criminal-justice reform work for Michigan’s largest city. Eli is also a nationally recognized attorney who has led public-interest lawsuits against some of the country’s toughest adversaries—adversaries such as banks, the opioid industry, slumlords, and corporate polluters. Eli continues to teach at the University of Michigan as a Lecturer.

Alexandra Natapoff

Lee S. Kreindler Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Alexandra Natapoff is an award-winning legal scholar and criminal justice expert. She writes about criminal courts, public defense, plea bargaining, wrongful convictions, and race and inequality in the criminal system. Her book Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal (Basic Books) reveals the powerful influence that misdemeanors exert over the U.S. criminal system. Her book Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice (NYU Press), won the ABA Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention for Books: her original work on criminal informants has made her an international expert.

Mitha Nandagopalan

Staff Attorney, Strategic Litigation, Innocence Project

Mitha Nandagopalan joined the Innocence Project’s strategic litigation department as a staff attorney in February 2023 to work on the Neighborhood Project, focusing on the community impacts of racialized police surveillance, emerging surveillance technology, and mass misdemeanor arrests. Before joining the Innocence Project, Mitha was an assistant public defender at the Law Offices of the Public Defender of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where they practiced for several years in the misdemeanor division and helped train new attorneys. Prior to that, they clerked for Justice Susan Carney on the Alaska Supreme Court in Fairbanks. They hold a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Rachel Marshall

Executive Director, Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College

Rachel Marshall is the Executive Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution.

Rachel previously served as the Director of Communications and Policy Advisor at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, following nearly a decade working as a public defender in Alameda County, California.  Rachel has extensive expertise in the criminal legal system and efforts to reform it, as well as experience in media, policy, and advocacy.

Rachel graduated from Stanford Law School and Brown University.  After law school, she clerked for federal District Court Judge David O. Carter in the Central District of California.  Prior to law school, she taught high school history for three years in the Bronx