“An entrepreneurial spirit brings a different set of experiences to a situation.” Terri Jamison Judge B.S. Business Administration ‘00 ALUMNA SPOTLIGHT Terri Jamison serves the people of Franklin County as a common pleas court judge and it’s easy to see how her entrepreneurial spirit and heart for public service ultimately led her to the bench. Judge Terri Jamison’s path to the courtroom has included a wide variety of experiences. While running her own business, Jamison completed coursework at Columbus State Community College and then a bachelor’s degree from Franklin. Education assisted in the growth of her insurance agency over the course of 16 years, and it also introduced her to a new passion. “Having my own insurance agency, I was out in the field writing policies, processing claims, working with attorneys … and that’s when I knew I wanted to study law.” With that goal in mind, Jamison sold her agency and attended law school. Upon graduation, she was employed as a Franklin County public defender in the municipal division. Soon after that, she established her own practice, where she focused in the areas of criminal, juvenile and domestic relations at the trial and appellate levels. In November 2012, she was elected to her current position. Once on the bench, Jamison became increasingly aware of a number of individuals returning to her courtroom for failure to pay child support. The typical way to deal with the situation is to find the person in contempt of court and sentence them to jail if they continue not to pay. Jamison knew that when an obligor was sent to jail, it meant that he or she was not working, and the child was still not being supported. Moreover, the taxpayers were billed approximately $79 per day to house the inmate, and if the child received public assistance, the taxpayers subsidized the child’s care. In short, nothing was being done to help set the family on the right track. For this reason, Jamison worked with the Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency in 2014, to create the Compass Program. As Jamison explains, “An entrepreneurial spirit brings a different set of experiences to a situation.” Such is the case with Compass, which seeks to put the contempt process on hold and to link those owing child support with resources they need to become employed and retain employment. Backed by the authority of a court order, an obligor whose case is moved to the Compass docket is linked to resources and service providers who assist the court by tracking the individual’s progress within the needed services and reporting back for regularly scheduled review hearings. The individual’s willingness, or lack thereof, to work within the program determines whether the original contempt order will be dismissed or enforced with jail time. “I did not want to see the same people in my courtroom over and over again,” recalls the judge, “so we had to think out of the box and develop a program that benefits all parties. So far, we’re seeing a reduction in recidivism and jail time, both of which indicate we’re moving in the right direction.” The Compass Program serves as one example of a legal philosophy that Jamison sums up simply: “Ours is an adversarial system, and there are times when an individual may find his or her actions have put them on the wrong side of the law. The law may not be on your side but no matter the case, everyone has a right to be heard.” 11. A magazine for alumni and friends of Franklin University | 10. | Clocktower 2017 | alumni.franklin.edu