Tennessee prosecutors are turning to a familiar face to set the example for State District Attorneys. At the annual meeting last week, the Tennessee District Attorney Generals Conference selected local District Attorney General Jason Lawson to become the new chairman of the prosecutor’s Justice and Professionalism Committee. The request came as a surprise to Lawson, as he is the only first-term DA in the state to receive a committee chairmanship. The Justice and Professionalism Chairmanship is a pivotal position to assist Tennessee prosecutors to perform at their highest level. Past focus of the committee has ben to ensure DA ethics and to work to avoid prosecutorial misconduct and error.
Although Lawson will be a newly elected DA, his prior work as an Assistant District Attorney General was well known to many at the statewide DA’s conference. Lawson has been selected as one of the top prosecutors in the State, and was one of the select few Assistant District Attorneys to be chosen to serve alongside the elected District Attorneys on state conference committees. Lawson’s past service includes time on the Victim Services Committee, the Justice and Professionalism Committee, and the state Legislative Committee.
The purpose of Lawson’s new committee chairmanship is to ensure that State prosecutors perform their jobs with the highest ethical standards, pursue justice in every case that enters the courtroom, and build trust with the citizens of the community based on the quality of their work.
“I am humbled to be requested to serve in this capacity,” said Lawson. “I understand the importance of this committee and am deeply honored that the prosecutors of this state would hold me in such high regard as to ask that I lead this committee. Being a prosecutor is a special position of trust and responsibility. It is my sincere objective that we will stand up for justice and stand out as examples of what public service should look like. Never in the history of our country has law enforcement faced challenges such as it does today. But to me, the greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity for us to be a shining example of the type of prosecutors that people expect us to be.”
