Posted: August 19th, 2013 | by Yuval Sheer

On July 30, 2013, two dozen Juvenile Justice Academy members completed a comprehensive two month program at the Center.

The students presented their final projects, which focused on recommendations to implement developmentally sensitive strategies for judges presiding over cases involving youth. As part of their studies, Academy members had the opportunity to author original scholarship on a variety of issues including false confessions of youth, the criminalization of sexually exploited youth, arrests in schools, and mental health needs of youth who come into contact with the adult court system.

During the summer, Academy members met with esteemed juvenile justice experts including:
• Ronald Richter, Commissioner of New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services
• Elmer Blanco, a youth who came into contact with the adult court system and is now a Youth Counselor at Horizon Juvenile Detention Facility
• Judge Judy Harris Kluger, Chief of Policy and Planning for the New York State Unified Court System
• Nancy Ginsburg, Director of the Adolescent Intervention and Diversion Team of The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Practice
• Judge Fernando Camacho, Acting Justice, Supreme Court, Suffolk County
• Amy Albert, Staff Attorney/Policy Analyst at Brooklyn Defender Services
• Judge Eduardo Padro, presiding judge of Manhattan’s Youth Part
• Ashley Cannon, Director of Public Policy at the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City
• T.J. Parsell, filmmaker, author, and human rights activist dedicated to ending sexual violence in prison and to stopping the practice of incarcerating juveniles in adult facilities.

We are grateful for the time and invaluable information that these experts shared with our Academy associates. Many members of the Academy have expressed their interest in working in the juvenile justice field as defense attorneys, prosecutors, policy makers and advocates. We hope that their experience at the Juvenile Justice Academy will inspire our graduates to continue to pursue the mission of ensuring that children in our state and nation are judged as the children they are.

 

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Academy members presenting about youth justice in a raise the age forum. Photo by Gabriel Johnson of the Children’s Village.