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"We have broken the mold for women as much as we have broken the mold for African-Americans," said LaDawn Blackett Jones, the solicitor in South Fulton, Georgia.
Tiffany Carter Sellers, center, chief judge; LaDawn Blackett Jones, left, the city's prosecutor; and Viveca Powell, public defender, front row, third from left, are among the black women in charge of the criminal justice system in South Fulton, Georgia.Reginald Duncan / @cranium.art
Oct. 29, 2018 / 1:57 AM PDT
By Dartunorro Clark
SOUTH FULTON, Ga.— Inside the municipal courtroom here in this Atlanta suburb, a black man in his early 20s is begging the judge for a second chance.
He's facing his third shoplifting conviction and, under Georgia state law, must serve a jail sentence.
Defendants plead for a second (or third) chance in courtrooms across the country on a daily basis, but here in this majority African-American town, where the population is just over 100,000, the criminal justice system is unique: Black women are in charge, and they say they run things differently.
LaDawn Blackett Jones is the city's solicitor, or prosecutor, Viveca Powell serves as public defender and Tiffany Carter Sellers is the chief judge. The court clerks and staff are also black women.
"As people from around the country are looking at what is going on here, we are trying to set the example for the way true law and justice should work," Blackett Jones said.
Continued
Tiffany Carter Sellers, center, chief judge; LaDawn Blackett Jones, left, the city's prosecutor; and Viveca Powell, public defender, front row, third from left, are among the black women in charge of the criminal justice system in South Fulton, Georgia.Reginald Duncan / @cranium.art
Oct. 29, 2018 / 1:57 AM PDT
By Dartunorro Clark
SOUTH FULTON, Ga.— Inside the municipal courtroom here in this Atlanta suburb, a black man in his early 20s is begging the judge for a second chance.
He's facing his third shoplifting conviction and, under Georgia state law, must serve a jail sentence.
Defendants plead for a second (or third) chance in courtrooms across the country on a daily basis, but here in this majority African-American town, where the population is just over 100,000, the criminal justice system is unique: Black women are in charge, and they say they run things differently.
LaDawn Blackett Jones is the city's solicitor, or prosecutor, Viveca Powell serves as public defender and Tiffany Carter Sellers is the chief judge. The court clerks and staff are also black women.
"As people from around the country are looking at what is going on here, we are trying to set the example for the way true law and justice should work," Blackett Jones said.
Continued