To attend, download and send in the Conference Registration Form.

TOPICS & SPEAKERS:

THE COMPETENCE OF KIDS: A comprehensive discussion of competency of children on multiple levels, including competence to be in court, waivers of rights, and the effect of development on mental state defenses.

• MARSHA LEVICK
• DOUG WILSON: Colorado State Public Defender

THE ROLE OF THE GAL IN DIRECT FILE CASES

• DIANA RICHETT

CONSTITUTIONAL TRENDS IN DEFENDING JUVENILES

• KIM DVORCHAK

THE CONSEQUENCES FOR KIDS IN TODAY’S JUSTICE SYSTEM

• LINDY FROLICH: Alternate Defense Counsel

THE KARMA OF REPRESENTING KIDS: WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO AND THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING IT WELL

• BERNARDINE DOHRN

District Attorney Carol Chambers need look no farther than her own crowded juvenile docket to know a little education could help deter a lot of crimes.

So the 18th Judicial District prosecutor has published a 28-page booklet that plainly spells out the laws that most often land Colorado kids in big trouble, and their punishments.

“Kids get involved in things all the time before they think about whether it’s a crime, like senior pranks, things that hurt animals, bullying and harassment,” she said. “If they only would think before their actions, it could save them and their parents a lot of trouble.”

• Denver Post: DA’s how-to list tries to deter youth crime
• Arapahoe DA: Law and Order: A Guide for Teens and Parents (.pdf)

Michael Lindsey* is a local consultant who has worked extensively with the Casey Foundation and is the organization’s point man here. He said this country’s get-tough policies on crime spilled down to have a devastating effect on children and teens. “The attitude basically became: ‘Lock ‘em all up and let God sort ‘em out,’ ” he said. Unfortunately, the approach backfired and juvenile detention became like the farm team for adult prisons – with way too many kids making it to the majors.

Mike Griffiths, director of the Dallas County Juvenile Department, points to the voluntary adoption of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative as an indication that local officials are looking for alternatives to avoid recidivism and ease the burden on detention facilities.

The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is aimed at “reducing the unnecessary confinement of youth in our country.” Since its inception in 1992, the project has had some notable successes in reducing detention rates and time spent in detention, reduction in the overall amount of youth crime in the affected area and reducing racial disparity in juvenile corrections settings.

* In the interests of disclosure it should be noted that Michael Lindsey is a Fellow at the Center for Children, Law & Policy.

• Dallas Morning News: County’s youth detention program offers ray of hope
• Annie E. Casey Foundation: Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative

Since state and local authorities declared war on juvenile crime in the 1990s, Harris County courts consistently have prosecuted more underage teens as adults than four other major Texas counties combined.

Houston Chronicle: More youths are tried as adults in Harris County

Room 144 – Bates Law Building
University of Houston Law Center
Registration 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Roundtable Event: 9:00 a.m. – Noon
Cost: FREE

Speakers
Michael Lindsay, J.D. , Ph.D.
Ellen Marrus, J.D.
Steven Mintz, Ph.D.
Wallace Mlyniec, J.D.
Irene Merker Rosenberg, L.L.B.

3.0 hours of CLE credit
(includes 1.0 hour of ethics)
This event is open to all, and includes a free lunch if RSVP is received before Oct. 30.

Click here to Register Online

In December, the United Nations took up a resolution calling for the abolition of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for children and young teenagers. The vote was 185 to 1, with the United States the lone dissenter.

Equal Justice Initiative takes a closer look at the current cases of children in the United States who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole as 13-14 year-olds.

The report pays particular attention to the legal effect of the Supreme Court’s recent case in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), which recognized the developmental distinctions in children and adult and its effect on sentencing rationales.

Sources:

• New York Times: Lifers as Teenagers, Now Seeking Second Chance
• Equal Justice Initiative: Resources; Report: Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in Prison (.pdf)

Further Reading

• Human Rights Watch The Rest of Their Lives
  Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States
• Frontline: When Kids Get Life

For more information about the Center and its activities, visit http://www.law.uh.edu/center4clp/.