Jacqueline bunn, Esq., is Deal appointee to the Board
Jacqueline Bunn has joined the State Board of Pardons and Paroles as one of the five voting members. Bunn, the former director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), began work on the Board, July 1, 2016.
“I feel like I’ve come full circle,” stated Bunn. “I started my career as an attorney representing the Parole Board in civil rights matters and I’m excited to be a part of the criminal justice process. Public safety will always be at the forefront of my mind in every decision.”
As Governor Deal stated, Ms. Bunn brings a “myriad” of experience working directly with the criminal justice system.
Bunn is licensed to practice law in all of the state and federal courts in Georgia and New Jersey. She has handled hundreds of cases involving the Department of Corrections and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles in state and federal courts, from the trial level through the appellate process to the United States Supreme Court.
Parole Board Chairman Terry Barnard says the diversity among board members has always been one of the Board’s defining qualities.
“Governor Deal's choice with the appointment of Jacqueline Bunn further enhances board strengths. As a member of the legal community, Jacqueline brings a valued prospective along with many life experiences directly related to Georgia's criminal justice system and her passion for crime victims,” Barnard said.
Bunn says, "It was wanting to do something where I felt I was really making a difference," that led her to taking a position with the Georgia Attorney General's Office in 1997. "I wanted to impact the community."
It was also at the AG's Office where, as legal counsel for the state, she helped defend the Parole Board before the U.S. Supreme Court. In Garner v. Jones, the state prevailed as it defended the Board's policy of setting off parole reconsiderations from one to eight years after denying parole to an offender serving a life sentence.
The inmate alleged in his lawsuit that the board policy was keeping him in prison longer, however the Court ruled that it was constitutional for Georgia to have such a policy.
Bunn's career includes being the deputy director of legal services for the Department of Public Safety and most recently serving as the Executive Director of CJCC. She learned of the many services the state provides crime victims at CJCC and says the victims compensation fund paid for by perpetrators of the crime, is a good way to look at how offenders can give back to the people they've harmed.
As a member of the Parole Board, Bunn sees her role as, "Gatekeeper for public safety."
"If a person is going to be leaving prison, what is the safest way to transition that person back into society? Supervision can help ensure that transition is smooth. In the end we all want punishment, we want justice, if you're looking at reentry as the state is taking a hard look at now, I think our role is to try to have successes and not failures. At the end of the day if they can become productive members of society, that's a win for everybody."
Access a complete bio at https://pap.georgia.gov/jacqueline-bunn-esq.
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