National Symposium Highlights Juvenile Indigent Defense
Mar 9, 2010, Rey Banks, National Juvenile Defender Center
The juvenile defense agenda was squarely and resolutely placed on the indigent defense landscape at the 2010 National Symposium on Indigent Defense hosted by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, D.C. last month.
Attorney General Holder told the audience of indigent defenders, judges, and policy makers that the Department of Justice recognizes the special nature of juvenile defense. He noted that in the nearly half a century since the Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, “these cases have yet to be fully translated into reality.”
The symposium’s ambitious agenda included over 145 speakers, many with roots deep in the juvenile defense community. Representatives from the indigent defense community in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, the Northern Mariana and Virgin Islands attended. In addition to exposing indigent defense leaders and key policymakers to the special challenges of juvenile indigent defense, the symposium reaffirmed Attorney General Holder’s recognition of the importance of developing juvenile specific approaches to indigent defense. An entire plenary panel was devoted to juvenile justice issues and juvenile defenders participated in a number of other panel discussions and workshops
Through the sustained efforts of the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC), the juvenile indigent defense community played a prominent role in shaping the agenda and identifying faculty and other key symposium participants. Positioning Models for Change and its Juvenile Indigent Defense Action Network (JIDAN) members on a number of panels served to highlight the strategic reform work and juvenile defense-led innovations of the initiative in a significant way.
At the urging of juvenile stakeholders, NJDC also disseminated three talking points to infuse into conversations, ensuring the cohesive voice of juvenile defenders throughout the event. Those messages included:
- The federal government must provide resources to support effective juvenile defense. Currently, the government provides no such resources.
- The federal government should recognize juvenile defense as a specialized area of law through practice and policy enhancements.
- Innovations in Juvenile Defense Delivery Systems are necessary for improving practice and policy.
This is the first symposium DOJ has convened on indigent defense to place juvenile defense issues front and center. The spotlight on juvenile defense has already contributed to the existing momentum to improve practice and policy. The juvenile sessions provided cutting-edge information, allowing participants to highlight unique collaborations that have led to thoughtful strategies to strengthen and enhance juvenile defense systems nationwide. The work of the JIDAN teams was represented in both plenary and breakout sessions, creating a tangible buzz and excitement about these innovations.
For many years, the juvenile indigent defense community has worked for a seat at the table. The attention placed on juvenile representation at the symposium and the Attorney General’s opening remarks demonstrate his commitment to providing the infrastructure and resources needed to elevate juvenile defense as a specialized area of law through practice and policy enhancements and represents a significant step forward. The partners in Models for Change and the Juvenile Indigent Defense Action Network will play a key role in these emerging efforts.
- Issues
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Juvenile indigent defense
- Action networks
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Indigent Defense Action Network