DISTRICT ATTORNEY PAUL L. HOWARD, JR.UNVEILS INNOVATIVE PROGRAM THAT GIVES YOUNG MENA SECOND CHANCE TO TURN THEIR LIVES AROUND

The number one criminal problem in Fulton County and surrounding Atlanta communities is illegal drug activity, primarily the sale of cocaine.

On May 22, 2008, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office joined by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington unveiled a pilot program designed to clean our streets of rampant, unchecked illegal drug activity. With its innovative programming, this endeavor entitled Project Turn Around, promises to change the landscape of Fulton County.

Project Turn Around has two goals. Firstly, to remove from our streets experienced, repeat drug offenders who have decided to make selling drugs a life-long occupation. Secondly, to provide an opportunity for young drug dealers, with limited criminal histories, a chance to remove themselves from illegal drug activity and to turn their lives around. This program seeks to effectively utilize available resources to reduce incarceration rates and recidivism rates among young offenders. Project Turn Around is an intensive 12-month program that will provide these young men with drug counseling, G.E.D. classes, job training, family counseling, enrichment courses, life skills training and other social services.

Agencies including the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), the Atlanta Police Department (APD), the Georgia Department of Corrections and the Atlanta Judicial Circuit Probation Services Department along with the Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta are partnering with DA Howard and Judge Arrington on the program to ensure its success.

Fourteen young men, between the ages of 17-25 years old, were officially entered into the program on May 22 with an additional six more program participants enrolling within that same week. The young men were presented with an unprecedented array of alternative and intervention treatments. They will be provided one year to complete the program. If they are successful, District Attorney Paul Howard has promised that no criminal charges will be brought against them. One element that makes this program unique is that for the first time in the history of Fulton County, PARENTS of defendants were brought into court with their children in an effort to intervene in the lives. Secondly, citizen MENTORS were assigned to each defendant to further assist them in pursuing a lifestyle other than selling illegal drugs.

During the unveiling of the program, Judge Arrington told the young men, "I want to make sure before I send somebody to jail for an extended period of time that I've done everything I can do to make them a better person." In addition to hearing from the judge, the young men were addressed by the Honorable Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton.

Statistics indicate that over 60% of drug offenders are rearrested within three years of their release from incarceration. Statistics also show that these numbers drop by 20% to 30% when youthful offenders undergo intensive treatment programs and receive strong support after parole. That is what Project Turn Around provides.

District Attorney Howard, Judge Arrington and the other partners believe that this two-prong approach of arresting life-long drug dealers and providing a second chance to the defendants in the intervention program will create the synergy needed to turn our communities around.

Media Contact: Shelia Edwards, 404-730-4867/404-392-8867, shelia.edwards@fultoncountyga.gov