“Instead of incarcerating young, nonviolent first-time defendants, communities are made whole when members of the civic and corporate community are brought together to engage with these young people in a meaningful way by providing valuable educational, cognitive and life skills training in a concerted way to keep these young defendants out of the criminal justice system and by giving them the full capacity to take advantage of new opportunities.”
Asha Jackson spends every day, quite literally, pursuing justice for the people of Georgia.
As Chief Judge of The Superior Court of DeKalb County, Georgia as well as 4th District Administrative Judge in the State of Georgia, she presides over more than 1,000 civil and criminal cases each year. She is also the Founder and Presiding Judge of The Adult Felony Mental Health Court in DeKalb County, a mandatory two year court cycle, where she works with severely and persistently mentally ill individuals charged with a crime. The focus of this court is on health management, cognitive behavioral change and accountability as an alternative to incarceration.
She launched Project Pinnacle nearly a decade ago based on her passion for helping young people and the challenges she so often sees in her courtroom which includes educational, socio-economic, and emotional challenges. The program offers a mandatory and intensive one-year, in-court experience to young and first-time nonviolent defendants as a way to deter future offenses. While the program curriculum is intense and requires additional participation in civic, educational and social experiences, upon completion of the program, the District Attorney dismisses the charges against each graduate without further prosecution and a record restriction which is instrumental to the future success of employment and educational pursuits of many of the graduates.
To date 155 young people have graduated from the program, and none have returned to the criminal justice system. The program is now being expanded to other Atlanta-area counties and three counties outside of metro Georgia as well as the addition of the Statewide Public Defender’s Standards Council which has adopted Project Pinnacle as a part of a prison re-entry model for the State of Georgia.
Organization
Project Pinnacle, Inc., Decatur, GA
Area of Focus
Young adults charged as first time, non-violent felons in the criminal justice system
Fellowship Project
Expand a proven model for dealing with young and first-time nonviolent offenders that helps keep them out of the criminal justice system in the future, through therapy, education, and career development.