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Danielle Simpson, JD CourtWatch Coordinator |
Citizen’s CourtWatch is a part of Community Prosecution,
which is a specialized unit within the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.
CourtWatch is a national program, and began here with a federal grant in 2000. To
date Fulton Country is the only District Attorney’s office that has implemented
such a program.
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Keith Lamar, Assistant District Attorney |
The Citizen’s CourtWatch program is overseen by Danielle and
as the only coordinator for all of Fulton County, she has a big job. The
mission of Citizen’s CourtWatch is to educate citizens about the court system
and to encourage participation in the system through attendance at hearings and
by offering impact statements.
This input helps the courts make decisions about sentencing
and gives citizens a voice regarding the impact of crime on our community.
Participation also supports the police and prosecution to successfully convict
repeat offenders and helps to ensure that court decisions are consistent with
community values
.
Danielle walked us through the process for an arrestee from
first appearance through bond, preliminary hearings, pleas, trials and
sentencing. Here is a link to some more information about that process
She explained how cases are selected to be tried by
community prosecutors (as opposed to other departments within the District
Attorney’s office) and how cases being handled by other departments are
monitored. Finally she explained the process for CourtWatchers to attend and
speak in court.
Though this brief session provided a great deal of
information, a larger full training is being planned for late in the summer.
This event will likely be held on a Saturday and will include representatives
and speakers from throughout the criminal justice system. If you would like to be
on Danielle’s distribution to be notified about this training, send her an
email message at Danielle.Simpson@FultonCountyGA.gov or call her at 678-638-9263.
In the meantime, John and other CourtWatchers from the
neighborhood will try to attend court whenever relevant cases come up, and will
keep you posted on the outcome. This program may also serve as a good way to
monitor the decisions of the judges we have elected and to determine if they deserve
their seat on the bench.
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