[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13765]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  THE JOHN R. JUSTICE PROSECUTORS AND DEFENDERS INCENTIVE ACT OF 2007

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                         HON. LINDA T. SANCHEZ

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 22, 2007

  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to 
join my colleagues in supporting the John R. Justice Prosecutors and 
Defenders Incentive Act, a bill that will help local governments to 
recruit and retain talented young people to their district attorney and 
public defender offices.
  Tuition has been rising steeply at law schools across the country, 
increasing more than 130 percent at private law schools since 1990. 
Unfortunately, scholarships and pay at part-time jobs have simply not 
kept up. As a result, students have been forced to take on additional 
debt in order to afford a legal education. By 2006, the average law 
student graduated with nearly $80,000 of debt. Eighty thousand dollars 
would have bought a nice big house in Los Angeles in my parents' day!
  But this debt load affects more than just the credit scores and 
disposable incomes of recent graduates. It affects their career 
choices. Young people bearing the burden of eighty and hundred thousand 
dollar debts must seek jobs that will provide enough income to allow 
them to make their loan payments as well as pay for transportation, 
rent, food, clothing, healthcare, and other necessities.
  However, many government and public service jobs do not provide this 
level of pay to starting lawyers. Some locales can only afford to pay 
starting attorneys $36,000 a year (even while the top New York law 
firms pay their starting attorneys $140,000 or more). It's no surprise, 
then, that an entire generation of bright young people can't afford to 
consider the possibility of becoming a district attorney or a public 
defender.
  That is why I am pleased to join the American Bar Association, the 
National District Attorneys Association, and the National Legal Aid and 
Defender Association in support of this important bill, which will 
provide student loan repayment assistance to borrowers who remain 
employed for at least 3 years as state or local criminal prosecutors or 
state, local, or federal public defenders.
  We want and need the best and brightest to join these professions. 
Indeed, public trust in the justice system requires trust in the 
attorneys tasked with prosecuting and defending the accused. I am proud 
to support local and state attorneys in enforcing their laws and proud 
to support this bill.

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