President Bush Signs Bill Authorizing Federal Student Loan Repayment Assistance for Local Prosecutors‪.‬

IT ALL REALLY STARTED with a couple of questions from assistant prosecutors about the possibility of relief from their federal Perkins and Stafford loans. Their inquiries in 1998 to the National District Attorneys Association prompted then-President John R. Justice (solicitor, 6th Judicial Circuit, Chester, South Carolina) to send a missive to the U.S. Secretary of Education. The letter, in part, stated: The result of Solicitor Justice's letter and subsequent letters from Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) to the Departments of Education and Justice was the clarification that prosecutors are considered "law enforcement" for purposes of the loan forgiveness provisions of the federal Perkins loan program. This unfortunately was not much consolation for the majority of prosecutors with student loans issued through the Stafford loan program. Nor was it much assistance to the prosecutors around the country trying to recruit and retain competent and trained assistants in their offices. Without an incentive such as repayment assistance on educational loans there was little preventing young prosecutors from joining the private sector.