FY22 John R. Justice Program

The South Dakota 2022 John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Grant program will be used to recruit and retain prosecutors and public defenders in the state.  We could not identify a way to determine the number of full-time prosecutors in the State prior to the availability of JRJ funds or currently. The information is not available. The Office of Attorney General is the governor-designated John R. Justice (JRJ) administrating agency in South Dakota.

 The goals of the South Dakota JRJ program are:

1. Retain quality prosecutors and defenders long-term in their respective offices

2. Recruit quality prosecutors and defenders into career positions within their field

3. Distribute loan repayment dollars to as many eligible prosecutors and defenders as possible to maximize the impact of the dollars

The South Dakota JRJ program will follow a centralized strategy to accomplish these goals. Applicants will apply to the Office of Attorney General. If we don’t receive the waiver, a review committee with representatives from prosecutors and public defenders will determine awards based on the programmatic criteria set forth by the U.S. Department of Justice. In an effort to disburse the awarded funds equally among the eligible applicants, as we did in FY2013-FY2021 we will disburse the FY2022 award equally in order to maximize the impact of the JRJ loan repayment program in South Dakota.