Events Calendar - Month View

Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the rate of students referred to courts has increased substantially. The majority of referrals to the juvenile justice system each year are for status offenses — activities that are not criminal but are prohibited under the law because of a youth’s status as a minor. For example, truancy — violating a school’s attendance policies — accounted for the majority (58 percent) of petitioned status offense cases disposed in 2021. These referrals sometimes result in students missing school time or going deeper into the juvenile justice system. As schools actively work to keep students in school – engaged and focused on learning – and build up protective factors for those who are at risk, several have worked with law enforcement, court personnel and others in their community to establish School Justice Partnerships (SJPs). SJPs are designed to develop and implement effective strategies to address low-level, minor misbehavior, so students stay in the classroom rather than the courtroom. Data shows that they also can help reduce suspension rates, increase high school graduation rates, and decrease school dropout rates. In this webinar, presented by the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, context setting speakers will first discuss how current brain science can inform how schools address minor misbehavior and then provide an overview of SJPs, sharing the main components and process. Then, panelists will discuss what sparked the creation of their school justice partnerships, how their partnerships have evolved over time, and the impact they have had in their communities. The webinar will end with a live Q&A.

This is the second installment of the ABA Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice‘s "Kids in Custody: Legal Challenges and a Call to Action" webinar series. This webinar will focus on the critical legal issues of youth arrests and detentions. It will delve into due process violations and equal protection concerns that frequently arise in these cases and unpack strategies to safeguard the rights of youth. The presenters hope to provide practical knowledge to help ensure the fair treatment of system involved youth and disrupt the school to prison pipeline. Speakers: Brenda Robinson - Chair, ABA Commission on Youth at Risk; Senior Attorney, Children‘s Law Center of California Natalie Smith - Peeples - Director, Youth Justice Policy and Training at the Juvenile Rights Practice of the Legal Aid Society Moderator: Ahad Khan - Founder, Ahad Khan Law PLLC Thank you to co-sponsors the Center on Children and the Law, the Commission on Youth at Risk, the Division for Public Education, the Judicial Division, the Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice, and the Hispanic National Bar Association. Learn more at https://bit.ly/KICwebinar

This webinar, hosted by Justice and Joy National Collaborative, will explore gender-responsive and trauma-informed services for youth. Presenters will discuss various evidence-based interventions and trauma-informed approaches while reviewing therapeutic techniques. Participants will learn effective behavior motivation strategies to increase clients‘ self-efficacy and empower program staff. This webinar will allow professionals to learn and expand on new skills for dealing with personal, institutional, and societal changes.

After pandemic-era crime upticks, lawmakers are wavering on their commitment to evidence-based community safety policies. Instead, they are reverting to the failed playbook of the 1990s which dramatically increased incarceration with limited benefits to community safety. The Sentencing Project‘s recent report, “Incarceration & Crime: A Weak Relationship,” illustrates that less imprisonment often happens alongside improvements to community safety. Please join the Sentencing Project for a webinar exploring the weak relationship between incarceration and crime, non-prison alternatives to enhance community safety, and media coverage‘s relationship to public concern about crime. Panelists: Anna Flagg - Senior Data Reporter at The Marshall Project Andrew Muhammad - Executive Director and Life Coach at We, Our, Us Men’s Movement Dr. Alex Piquero - Sociology & Criminology Professor and Arts & Sciences Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami; Prior Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics Bryan Widenhouse - Senior Policy Associate at FAMM Moderator: Kristen M. Budd, Research Analyst at The Sentencing Project

The Gault Center and the Southwest Region invite you to this webinar on understanding youth with problematic sexual behavior and evaluating sex-specific risk assessments. Michelle Gourley, JD, LCSW, will discuss a sex-specific framework for youth and determine if a sex-specific assessment meets the standard of care and therefore provides appropriate dispositional treatment and placement recommendations for the youth we represent. Speaker bio: M. Michelle Gourley, MFT, LCSW, JD As a licensed clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist, and family and juvenile law attorney, Michelle has spent her entire career working to enhance the healing and wellbeing of juveniles, young adults, and their families. Her experience includes working as a therapist in a full continuum of mental health services beginning in Child Protective Services in California, psychiatric social work at the Utah State Hospital, treatment of substance abuse and trauma in a day treatment program, and specialized assessment and treatment for adolescents in residential, correctional, and out-patient settings. In 1982, Michelle earned a Bachelor of Science degree in the pre-professional option of Family Sciences with a Minor in Psychology and Sociology. In 1984, she graduated with two Master’s degrees, one in Social Work and a second in Marriage and Family Therapy. In 1998, Michelle earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Utah Law School specializing in family and juvenile law. She is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed member of the Utah State Bar Association. Michelle is one of the co-founders of NOJOS which included development and numerous revisions of the NOJOS Protocols and Standards. Currently, through her private practice, she continues to provide specialized assessment for juveniles and young adults throughout the United States in both State and Federal jurisdictions.