DeKalb County Court Watch Training

Dear Council Member Heneghan,

Thank you again for working with us and introducing the Proclamation about Teen Dating Violence.  I am writing to introduce you to introduce you to Sonja Brown, our Community Prosecutor, who is organizing the first ever DeKalb County Court Watch training, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 9 AM – Noon in the Jury Assembly Room at the DeKalb County Courthouse, 556 N. McDonough Street, Decatur, GA 30030.  Registration opens at 8 AM and training will begin promptly at 9 AM.

I thought you might have constituents interested in coming to the training, which is sponsored by the Office of the DeKalb County Solicitor-General in partnership with the DeKalb County Police Department.  The registration form can be found on ourwebsite as can the press release: http://www.dekalbsolicitorgeneral.org/media.html

Court Watch is a collaborative, community-based approach to criminal justice, developed to help the community gain a better understanding of how the court system works.  Court Watch provides an opportunity for community members to attend court hearings of those cases that are important to their respective communities, and to monitor those cases through the criminal justice system.  The Court Watch goals include:

• Educating the community about how the court system works;
• Encouraging community members to attend and observe court hearings;
• Having input in the criminal justice process, which increases accountability;
• Representing the community’s interest in the criminal justice system;
• Enhancing awareness among judges and prosecutors about the personal impacts of being crime victims, so that these issues can be taken into consideration in case prioritization and sentencing; and
• Developing better relationships between the courts, prosecutors, law enforcement and the community

During the training, participants will have an opportunity to learn about and understand the important aspects of the criminal justice system in DeKalb County.  They will also have an opportunity to hear presentations from the Solicitor-General’s office, DeKalb County Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department, Superior and State Court Judges, Probation, and an active Court Watcher from a neighboring jurisdiction.

We have room for up to 300 participants, so we strongly encourage pre-registration.  The registration form is attached and should be returned to Sonja’s attention at:

Sonja N. Brown

Assistant Solicitor-General

Community Prosecutor

Office of the DeKalb County Solicitor-General

556 N. McDonough Street

Suite 500

Decatur, GA 30030

404.371.2234 – Office

snbrown@dekalbcountyga.gov