NCJ Number
248095
Date Published
2014
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Program performance information is reported for fiscal years (FY) 2010, 2011, and 2012 for the John R. Justice (JRJ) grant program, which provides an incentive for law school graduates with overwhelming student loan debts to consider public attorney positions.
Abstract
The purpose of the JRJ Program is to encourage qualified attorneys to apply for and maintain employment in State, Local, and Federal public defender and State and local prosecutor positions. Under this program, the U.S. Justice Department provides loan repayment assistance to individuals who accept positions as prosecutors and public defenders. This report indicates that on average, approximately 34 percent of grant recipients modeled their repayment programs after an existing State or local loan reimbursement program. The three major considerations in selecting applicants were geographic and demographic attributes, loan debt, and salary cap. Just over 4,000 prosecutors were selected for participation in the loan repayment program. Since 2010, just over $10,000,000 in loan repayments were awarded to these participants. Just over 300 State/local public defenders and approximately 150 Federal public defenders were selected for participation in the loan repayment program. Just over $9,000,000 was awarded to State, local, and Federal public defenders. A table shows key performance measures and data elements used to calculate the measure. 3 tables and appended factors used to determine eligible applicants and information on prosecutors, public defenders, and Federal public defenders eligible and selected for loan repayments