Lady Justice is a fam

iliar sym

bol o

f

the judicial system recogn

ized

around

the world. Tall and reg

al, she stan

ds

with balan

ced scales in one han

d and

a sw

ord the other, sym

bolizing the fair

and equal administration of the law. To

most she represe

nts the as

surance that

those

who hav

e ignored the law w

ill

reap

equitab

le conse

quen

ces. There is

another side, howev

er, to the allego

rical

incarnation that rep

rese

nts empathy

and justice for peo

ple w

ho are vulnera-

ble and fee

l powerless.

Scales of Justice:

Balanced with

Compassion

54

Movers & Shapers 2014 W

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We Are Clayton Magazine • www.weareclayton.com • OCT | NOV 2014

WORDS DOT TOLERSON

PICTURE MICHIE TURPIN

“The mission of the office of the Solicitor Gen

-

eral is “to serve

and p

rotect the

citizens of

Clayton County.” They

inve

stigate, charge

, and

prose

cute a

range

of misdem

eanor crim

es

from veh

icular homicide to domes

tic violence

to shoplifting. A

lthough

known for tough

yet

fair prose

cution, Solicitor Gen

eral Tas

ha Mos-

ley has

a palpab

le fervo

r for the protection of

victim

’s rights and helping peo

ple course-cor-

rect from a path in

crime. “It m

eans so

mething

when

I am able to transform

a neg

ative cir-

cumstan

ce in

to a positive

situation,” remarked

Mosley. She has

dev

eloped

a solid, compas-

sionate

team

that h

as created

program

s to

mee

t the nee

ds of so

me of the critical crime

related issu

es in the community. Two program

s

that the team

is m

ost proud of a

re the Pre-Trial

Interven

tion (P

TI) an

d Victim’s Assistance.”

The PTI p

rogram

is offered

to first tim

e mis-

dem

eanor offen

ders as

an alternative to pros-

ecution, a

nd des

igned

to deter future criminal

beh

avior. It addresses

the root cause

of the ar-

rest, provo

king beh

avior while avo

iding disrup-

tion to the family and employm

ent life of the

participan

t. “Our task is to do w

hat is ju

st and

help peo

ple lea

rn from their mistakes,” Chief

Assistant Solicitor Gen

eral Keith Gam

mag

e un-

derscored. A

fter qualifying for the program

and

pay

ing a $500 res

titution fee

, participan

ts are

required

to complete a m

inim

um of forty hours

of community se

rvice as

well as eigh

t to twelve

wee

ks of ed

ucational and counse

ling se

ssions

relative

to the participan

t’s ch

arge

. Participan

ts

also

mee

t regu

larly with Program

Director Carl

Free

man

, who close

ly supervise

s the accuse

d

through

completion of the program

and final

disposition of their case

. Succes

sful comple-

tion res

ults in a certificate of accomplishmen

t,

and the ch

arge

being dismisse

d and exp

unge

d

from their arrest record. H

e works close

ly w

ith

Office Man

ager and PTI Assistant Coordinator

Meg

Cau

chy, des

cribed

as Carl’s right han

d and

supports

the

program

ad

ministratively. Ac-

cording to Freem

an, the program

has

a ninety

percent su

cces

s rate although

he would prefer

to see

all participan

ts turn their back to crime.

“I do this w

ork for the peo

ple that I kn

ow that

I will help,” he sa

id of the program

’s stagg

ering

succes

s. “Fo

r the peo

ple w

ho say

‘than

k yo

u’

for mak

ing this a valuab

le exp

erience.”

The Victim’s Assistance program

is the ad

vo-

cacy res

ource in the Solicitor Gen

eral’s office.

“While it is im

portan

t that we help abuse

rs find

another outlet for their ag

gres

sion w

e must

also

help victims feel safe an

d confiden

t that

they

can

create their own foundation outside

of d

epen

den

cy on the ab

use

r,” said M

osley. The

program

serve

s va

rious types

of victim

s that

include su

rviving family m

embers of homicide,

casu

alties

of domes

tic violence, an

d victims

of property crime. R

eferrals to social service

agen

cies

, compen

sation aide, safe hav

en shel-

ters, an

d other community reso

urces

are also

available. Program

Superviso

r Jenitha

Gouch

spoke of the hea

rt w

rench

ing case

s where sh

e

has

facilitated assistance for families

in dan

-

gerous situations. “We go

to bed

with thes

e

families

on o

ur mind e

very n

ight,” s

he

said

caringly. “We celebrate w

ith them

when

they

move

on from life threaten

ing circumstan

ces.”

Other key

services of the

program

included

inve

stigations, escorting victim

s to interviews

with prose

cutors, an

d accompan

ying them

to

court in a supportive capacity. M

ilton Cox, C

hief

Inve

stigator,

man

ages

the

inve

stigative

side

of the process. “Thes

e peo

ple rea

lly nee

d our

help,” he sa

id. “I give

it m

y all. I let them

know

that I w

ill be righ

t there with them

until they

get the help that they

nee

d.”

M

osley

shared

that after completing their

program

s, m

any community mem

bers return

to their office

expressing

their ap

preciation

for being gu

ided

to an opportunity for a better

future. Gam

mag

e ad

ded

, “O

ur program

helps

[peo

ple] nav

igate

the

system

an

d become

whole aga

in.” His commen

t is reflective of the

warm and sen

sitive

atm

osp

here that is con-

sisten

t in M

osley

’s tea

m from Sherlonda Parks

who m

anag

es the reception area to the staff in

the office su

ite. “I n

ever forget m

y oath to the

community as

an elected

official,” said M

osley,

“It’s ab

out working with the community, fo

r the

community, to continuously make it better.”

“It mea

ns so

mething when

I am able to transform

a

neg

ative circumstan

ce into

a positive

situation.”

56

Movers & Shapers 2014 W

e Are Clayto

n M

agazine

57

We Are Clayton Magazine • www.weareclayton.com • OCT | NOV 2014

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