San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project
Mary Jacobs is currently serving as a Pretrial Release Specialist at the San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project since 2023. Previously, Mary worked for the City and County of San Francisco from July 2018 to October 2022, holding multiple roles including Clerk in the Department of Elections, Operations Manager at the San Francisco COVID Command Center, and Industrial Safety and Environmental Compliance Trainee with SFMTA. Additionally, Mary was the Public Records Act and Subpoena Program Coordinator at San Francisco State University from March 2020 to August 2020. Mary holds a degree in Methods and Statistics in Social Sciences Specialization from the University of Amsterdam and has also studied at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas.
San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project
Our mission is to facilitate, within various communities, positive, and effective alternative to fines, criminal prosecution, and detention. The San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project (SFPDP) was established in 1976 through the joint efforts of a group of socially conscious citizens, the San Francisco Bar Association and the Judges of the Municipal Courts. Their experience had shown that most individuals charged with a misdemeanor offense did not benefit perceptibly by jail time. They were convinced that both the goals of crime prevention and rehabilitation would be better served by an alternative program of rehabilitation, education, and community service work. SFPDP was formed to provide “first time” misdemeanor offenders of non violent charges an opportunity to have their case dismissed by completing a program. Continuing our tradition and philosophy of “Dignity and Respect, Compassion and Accountability,” SFPDP added more programs designed to address various needs of the Court, their Clients and the Community such as Court Accountable Case Management, Court Accountable Homeless Services, Community Involvement Team Yes!, The Navigator Project, Neighborhood Courts, No Violence Alliance, Own Recognizance, Pretrial Diversion, Project 20, Project 22 & Supervised Pretrial Release.