Safe & Just Michigan

Criminal Defense Newsletter | January-February 2026

Leadership changes at Safe & Just Michigan

Safe & Just Michigan is announcing significant leadership changes, but our mission to advocate for evidence-based policies that reduce the harms of the criminal legal system and promote justice, community safety, and healing, remains the same.

John S. Cooper, who had been with SJM for nearly seven years and who served as Executive Director for seven years, has left to become the Chief of Staff for the Michigan Sentencing Commission. This is an exciting move for him, as he led the effort at SJM to establish the commission. In recent years, the state Legislature moved first to create the commission, and then to fund it. As creating this commission has been a priority of SJM, we are encouraged that John will be working to get it up and running.

Under John’s leadership, SJM achieved many of its goals. People were released from prison (or released sooner) due to bills we advocated; hundreds of thousands of people got better access to jobs and housing or restored driving privileges due to bills we helped pass; and people in prison and their loved ones saved millions of dollars in phone fees. We will continue to work toward goals such as strengthening Clean Slate laws and enabling hospitals and nursing homes to hire qualified and trained workers who have a past criminal record.

With John’s departure, former Chief Operating Officer Kate McCracken has stepped into the Executive Director’s role. Kate’s work in criminal legal reform began in California before she returned to Michigan nine years ago to work at SJM. Under her leadership, SJM rebranded from its former name CAPPS, or the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending.

We look forward to continuing our work with partner organizations and supporters, and we hope you’ll join us in wishing John well in his new role.

Director of policy sought

SJM is looking for a new Director of Policy to lead our legislative and policy efforts. The director of policy leads SJM’s policy advocacy work including overseeing our research, policy development, policy advocacy priorities, and advocacy strategies — both public-facing and legislative. This full-time position reports to the executive director and supervises two SJM staff members.

SJM advances evidence-based, state-level legislation and administrative policies that will lead to a safer Michigan where the harms of the criminal legal system are reduced and justice, community safety and healing are promoted. We build support for reform through research, public education, legislative advocacy and outreach to diverse communities and stakeholders. We seek to fill this role as quickly as possible.

To learn more about this position and how to apply visit bit.ly/SJMPolicyDir.

To learn more, visit us at www.safeandjustmi.org. If you would like to join our efforts, email us at info@safeandjustmi.org or sign up for our newsletter at bit.ly/sjmsignup.