Dan M. Alsobrooks

Amid Changes, Challenges Remain the Same

As the winds of political change blow around the country this way, then that, the nation’s prosecutors face the same challenges they did before November 5. And, as we know all too well from September 11, additional challenges consistently come to the fore. Related to every challenge old and new is the foundational demand that we in our war on crime, just as our country in the war on terrorism, must have the troops to meet the challenge. Very few of America’s prosecutors have all the resources they need; many are barely able to get by. In Tennessee, one of our district attorneys is so thinly staffed that courts have to be closed in some counties if an assistant prosecutor has the flu that day.

It has been very easy for the organized defense bar, one-sided legal scholars, politicians and even some judges to lay the blame for any flaw in the criminal justice system at the feet of prosecutors. Much of that blame is specious. But, without doubt, if these groups were really interested in fair and effective justice, they would support the efforts of prosecutors in every state and the national leadership of NDAA to hire adequate numbers of well-educated and reasonably compensated assistant prosecutors. Pardon me for again citing my own state, but in Tennessee, the first year salary for new prosecutors is $29,000—less than the $59,000 average for University of Tennessee Law School graduates in their first year of practice. Amazingly, summer law clerks at major Atlanta law firms make about the same salary for the summer as our entry-level prosecutors make in an entire year. Entry-level jailers in Memphis make more than an entry-level prosecutor. What’s wrong with this picture?

Lack of soldiers in the field of state and local prosecution is not the direct responsibility of Washington. But any general nationwide threat to the protection that our justice system is supposed to provide all of us is a federal concern. Significant responsibility for the increasing demands on the time and resources of state prosecutors is a result of federal action. It may come from the extra hoops federal courts require us to jump through, threading the needles of federal statutes and bureaucratic regulations or picking up the slack when federal agencies pull back on drugs and violent crime, as they did after September 11. However it comes, federal action and interests are intertwined with what prosecutors on the local level do everyday.

Many bright young attorneys are willing to work for much less than they could make in the private sector, but they have to support their families and often have steep debts from financing college and law school. This is a significant barrier when chief prosecutors try to hire many fine minority attorneys who would otherwise jump at the chance to be a prosecutor. This challenge applies to many assistant prosecutors employed during the past decade. Their law school debts often total over $75,000 and their monthly payments are as large as a mortgage payment.

As I have traveled to over 15 states during my first six months as president, over and over again young assistants have advised me that they love their jobs but they are forced to leave the profession because of their debt load. That’s why student loan relief would be such a great benefit to every prosecutor’s office in every state. Student Loan Forgiveness for prosecutors, if accomplished, could rank with the Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center as a milestone for prosecution in America. Rome wasn’t built in a day and accomplishing this critical goal will not occur without sustained commitment and determined effort over the long haul.

The NDAA officers and board have made Student Loan Forgiveness our highest legislative priority. We will carry that message to Washington at our Capitol Meeting in May. This is a goal that can only be accomplished through the leadership of the NDAA staff, board and members across the country. I hope to update you soon on our progress and what we need to do together to put the quality and number of prosecutors we need on the front line of our nation’s domestic defense.