Posted: July 26th, 2012 | by Yuval Sheer

Following two months of extensive policy and legal research regarding New York’s practice of trying youth as adults, and after successfully generating robust community support for legislative change, 25 participants in the Juvenile Justice Academy are graduating. These 2012 graduates come from myriad disciplines, such as law schools, social work schools and related fields. The depth of their research and their tireless effort in organizing two forums that attracted approximately 400 community members was, in a word, inspiring.

We would like to thank the Academy’s guest speakers for generously giving of their time and for offering their expertise and perspectives. In chronoglical order, the speakers were:

Laurence E. Busching, Esq., Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Division of Youth and Family Justice, New York City Administration for Children’s Services;
Ashley Cannon, Director of Public Policy, Citizens Crime Commission of New York City;
Honorable Monica Drinane, Supervising Judge of the Bronx County Family Court;
Amy Albert, Court Attorney to the Hon. Daniel Turbow, Kings County Family Court;
Robert Schwartz, Esq., Executive Director of Juvenile Law Center;
Alexandra Cox, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology at SUNY-New Paltz;
Nancy Ginsburg, Esq., Director, Adolescent Intervention and Diversion Project, The Legal Aid Society;
David Chura, Youth Advocate and former teacher at Westchester County Correctional Facility;
Paul N. Samuels, Esq., Director and President, Legal Action Center;
Vincent N. Schiraldi, Commissioner, New York City Department of Probation;
Honorable Eduardo Padro, Presiding Judge of Manhattan’s Youth Part;
As well as our community organizing panelists: Susan Lob, Heidi Lopez, Kaitlyn Newman, and Yasmin Safdie.

We would also like to thank James Gamble, Esq., litigation expert, for his invaluable advice to the Juvenile Justice Academy summer associates in their research and writing assignments.

Finally, a special thank you to David Chura for kindly providing copies of his book, “I Don’t Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup.” The book will be given to our students as a graduation gift. We are confident that they will be inspired by the book’s message as the next generation of juvenile justice advocates in New York.

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