Presenter: Marlesse Jones

Marlesse Jones is the Utah Prosecution Council Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Resource Prosecutor for Utah.  Her career includes 911 dispatcher, paralegal, and victim advocate.  She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Weber State University (2002).  Marlesse established and ran the Layton Victim Services program, responding to domestic violence, sexual assault, suicide, and homicide scenes to provide crisis intervention and liaison support to survivors throughout the investigative and prosecution process. Marlesse graduated from the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law with a juris doctorate degree in 2011.  She prosecuted in the District Court, Layton Department for seven years.  In January 2018 Marlesse joined Utah Prosecution Council.

Marlesse served as a former Chair of the Second District Victim Rights Committee and the Davis County Coalition.  Currently she is Vice-Chair of the Utah Crime Victims Council, and a member of the Sexual Violence Advisory Council, the Domestic Violence Advisory Council, and the Crime Victims Conference Committee. Marlesse has been training throughout Utah for many years on victim issues and due to her past experiences brings a unique perspective to working with the various professionals in the criminal justice system.

 Session Description:

This presentation seeks to create a greater self-awareness of our bias(es) in domestic violence and sex crime cases.  We all bring to prosecution expertise, education, and life experience.  But what if some of what we know is more historical than accurate, more comfort zone than truth, more limited than complete? How does this affect our assessment and prosecution of cases? How do we do better in seeking the justice that we work so hard to secure?  This presentation will explore bias, how it impacts our thinking, and how to challenge those thinking habits to flush out unconscious biases. And to get started, it will discuss a number of common areas where you may have bias and perhaps not even be aware of it…yet.

This webinar is open to Virginia prosecutors.

Click here to register by 5pm April 23, 2021