Public Defender Services, in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center, will present the Juvenile Defender Summit on October 21, 2020 from 12:30 to 5:00 pm via Zoom. The Summit is eligible for up to 4.8 WV CLE credits and is free for Public Defender Offices and Appointed Counsel/Panel Attorneys
You can register here. Sorry, registration is now closed. See you at the Summit (virtually, of course).
Materials will be emailed the day before the Summit.
- Role of Defense Counsel in Juvenile Court 12:30 – 1:30 PM
- Presented by Teresa McCune, West Virginia Public Defender Services, and Ashley Batten of the Public Defender Office for the 23rd Judicial Circuit
- Every child deserves a highly-trained, specialized juvenile defender at their side in juvenile court. As defenders, we are committed to ensuring that our clients rights are protected and their interests advanced at every stage of a case. In this interactive session, juvenile defenders will learn about the important differences (and similarities) between representing youth and adults as dictated by ethics and the law and discuss the importance of loyalty to the client’s stated interests and the challenges that may be associated with a youth’s parent/guardians.
- Adolescent Brain Development 1:45 – 3:15 PM
- Presented by Joshua Edwards, Chief Public Defender 11th Judicial Circuit, and Lori Waller, Disability Rights of West Virginia
- Scientific research confirms what we have always known about young people: their brains are different from adults and they may keep developing until they reach age 25! In this dynamic training, defenders who represent young people in juvenile and adult criminal court will
- Become familiar with important developmental research studies that are specifically related to adolescents’ decision-making in legal contexts
- Understand adolescent development as it relates to all aspects of representation, such as youth’s capacity to make valid waivers of constitutional rights, youth’s competency, mens rea and culpability at trial, disposition and transfer to adult court;
- Learn key Supreme Court cases that recognize the significance of the developmental sciences; and
- Identify strategies for educating the court and other juvenile justice stakeholders about the impact of adolescent development at all stages of a juvenile delinquency case.
- Litigating Racial Bias and Trauma 3:30 – 5:00 PM
- Note: This training is not youth specific and is appropriate for all defenders.
- Presented by Prof. Kristin Henning, Georgetown Law Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative
- While recent highly-visible police killings have shed some light on the abuses of police power, defenders know all too well that police “brutality” is much broader than these horrible deaths. For many people of color, daily surveillance and discriminatory encounters with police are overwhelming and traumatic. In this interactive workshop, defenders will learn how to incorporate research on racial bias, trauma and stereotype threat into their advocacy at every stage of a criminal case, including client interviews, detention and probable cause hearings, Fourth and Fifth Amendment challenges, trial theories involving a trauma-informed mens rea, sentencing, and violations of probation.