Carissa Grady is a 33-year-old, native Texan and a long-time resident of the Deer Park/Pasadena/La Porte area. She graduated from Deer Park High School in 2008 and began her studies at San Jacinto College where she obtained an Associates in Business Management and an Associates in the Applied Science of Accounting. In 2014, she began her work with Harris County at the Justice of the Peace, Precinct 8 Place 1. Soon after, she found her calling in the court system and set goals to one day make a positive impact in her community as a public servant. During her time at the court, Carissa became certified as a Master Court Clerk in Criminal and Civil Law, as well as attended numerous continued learning courses to create the best version of herself that she possibly could. In 2019, she moved over to the Harris County Attorney’s Office as a Paralegal for the Compliance and Revenue Division.

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After realizing the great passion she had for criminal justice, Carissa began her studies at the University of Houston Downtown. In 2020 during the midst of a global pandemic, Carissa completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, graduating in the top seat of her class with a perfect 4.0 GPA and Summa Cum Laude honors. In addition to this great accomplishment, Carissa was also attending school at the University of Houston Clear Lake to obtain her Paralegal Certificate through the Center for Legal Studies Academy and serving as the President of Alpha Phi Sigma, the Criminal Justice Honor Society.

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Later that year, Carissa was accepted to the Master’s program at UHD, where she continued to grow her knowledge and love for criminal justice. She went as far as to grow her thesis and conduct a public study of the judicial misconduct that was occurring in Harris County, which will be published in the near future.

When Carissa is not learning how to better improve our criminal justice system, she is spending time with her husband James (34), their son Carter (8), and daughter Brooklyn (5). Their evenings and weekends consist of family activities, baseball tournaments, basketball games, as well as cheer, tumble, and theatre. They believe that family is of the utmost importance and strive to provide a wonderful childhood for their two kids.