Pursuing justice in the prosecutor’s office: Racial and economic equity in a stratified community

Eli Savit serves as the elected Prosecuting Attorney for Washtenaw County. His 4-year term began on January 1st, 2021. 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 continues to teach at the University of Michigan as a Lecturer with the Law School.

Victoria Burton-Harris serves as the Chief Assistant Prosecutor for Washtenaw County. She was appointed to this position January 1st, 2021 by Prosecutor Eli Savit. In 2014, she opened a private firm in the heart of downtown Detroit specializing in family law and criminal defense at the state and federal trial court level. Her passion for justice and equality has led to her involvement with several grassroots organizations as a legal adviser. She also serves on various boards and committees. Burton-Harris currently sits on the Coalition for Police Transparency & Accountability, National Conference of Black Lawyers, the Board of Directors for the National Lawyers Guild Michigan chapter and the Board of Directors for Covenant House Michigan, a youth homeless shelter where she developed a mentoring program for residents. Burton-Harris teaches at the University of Michigan as a Lecturer with the Law School.

The talks, which are free and open to the public, will also be livestreamed on YouTube. U-M students can participate in the series as a one-credit course - look for it as SWK 503 section 001.

About the series

Real World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions introduces key issues regarding the causes and consequences of poverty through an in-person lecture series featuring experts in policy and practice from across the nation. Our goal is to help build a broad community of learners to engage in these issues together.

Speakers are national and global experts drawn from university, business, and community contexts who explore interdisciplinary real-world poverty solutions from a wide variety of perspectives. The talks, which are free and open to the public, will be livestreamed on YouTube. U-M students can participate in the series as a one-credit course.

For more info, please visit poverty.umich.edu/speakers

• law
• criminal justice reform
• criminal justice
• Washtenaw County Prosecutor
• Washtenaw County