Georgia Justice Project (GJP) is celebrating 25 years of a better approach to indigent criminal defense.  We defend people accused of crimes, and win or lose, stand with them while they rebuild their lives.  Founded in 1986, our mission is to ensure justice for the indigent criminally accused and their families and to assist them in establishing crime-free lives and becoming productive citizens.  We do this by offering free legal services coupled with a full range of social and employment services.  For the duration of our 24-year history, GJP has been located in the Martin Luther King, Jr. district near downtown Atlanta. 

Click here to see a copy of GJP's Strategic Plan - which outlines our goals from 2010 - 2014.

Who We Serve 

GJP serves the lowest-wealth members of our community who are also at the highest risk for criminal involvement.  Our clients are between the ages of 14 and 58 - with more than half between age 17 and 25.  65% are male, and most live in the City of Atlanta (55%) and neighboring DeKalb County (35%). 

Read more about our client stories HERE.

Measuring Success

GJP measures success in two ways - with legal results and personal results.  It is important to understand that in the American criminal justice system, more than 94% of cases end in a guilty plea.  At the time of the plea, most attorneys stand before a judge and promise that the client will make changes to his/her life if the court will show mercy and give a light sentence.  GJP makes no such promises.  When we stand beside our client before a judge we show the court what changes our client has already made and the progress he/she is making toward real life-changes and simply ask the judge to allow them to continue down that path.  GJP regularly has cases dismissed based on the performance and change demonstrated by our clients.  In 2009, more than 10% of our criminal cases were dismissed.  GJP is also very successful in preventing our clients from going to prison even with a conviction or guilty plea.  Each year, we take about 150 criminal cases.  On average, fewer than 7% of our clients are sentenced to further confinement once we take the case (nationally, the incarceration rate is over 50%).

We want to have a good outcome to the legal case, but it is more important to us that our clients live productive lives after their case is resolved.  Our holistic approach works:  The recidivism rate (or rate of re-offending) for GJP clients is 17%, less than one-third the national average.