Juvenile Justice Professionals and Experts Providing Local Response
LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – One in three children in the United States will be arrested by the time they are 23. Many will spend time locked in horrific detention centers, which defy everything that is known about how to rehabilitate young offenders.
The Center for the Study of Youth Policy at NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law and The Annie E. Casey Foundation joined forces on September 21st to present “Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prisons” at the college’s Panza Maurer Law Library.
Jon Garon, J.D., dean of the NSU law college, and Judge Frank Orlando (ret.), director of the law college’s Center for the Study of Youth Policy, welcomed students, faculty and guests to the event. Featured speakers were Nell Bernstein, author of “Burning Down the House,” and Bart Lubow, of The Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Justice Strategy Group.
Following their presentations, there was a panel discussion with juvenile justice experts Gordon Weekes, chief assistant public defender, Public Defender’s Office, Ft. Lauderdale; Azim Ramelize, Annie E. Casey Foundation Honorary Fellow; and Maria Schneider, chief assistant state attorney, Juvenile Division, 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
“As an influential law school in Florida, it is vital that we play a role in improving the lives of those in our community,” noted Dean Garon. “Our children are the most vulnerable population among us, so it is fitting that we focus our efforts to improve the quality of their lives. We assist children and families through our clinical programs and partnerships with organizations throughout the state.”
Burning Down the House focuses on youth across the nation who have suffered violence and psychological torture through the juvenile justice system. It won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association and was named one of the Best Big Ideas of 2014 by The Daily Beast, a Best Book of 2014 by Publishers Weekly, and “What to Read” by Glamour Magazine. After the presentations, Bernstein signed books for participants at the College of Law event.
The presentations by Bart Lubow and Nell Bernstein came at the conclusion of a weekend focusing on juvenile justice. NSU’s College of Law held a day-long symposium on breaking the “school to prison pipeline” which stems from the over incarceration of students for minor offenses. The Nova Law Review will be publishing a symposium edition dedicated to the issues of juvenile justice in its next edition.
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Shepard Broad College of Law: Nova Southeastern University’s College of Law offers a cutting edge, skills-centered academic program in three-year full-time and four-year part-time divisions. With its recently redeveloped clinical programs, every NSU Law student is guaranteed a live-client experience. In-house clinical studies are supplemented by full-time field placement opportunities practicing law in Florida, across the United States, or select locations throughout the globe. To solidify student success after graduation, NSU Law pioneered a curriculum on the business of lawyering through the Global Law Leadership Initiative. NSU Law students have a myriad of curricular opportunities, including a rich, diverse curriculum, concentrations in International Law or Health Law; dual degree programs abroad in Rome, Barcelona, or Prague; dual degree programs at many of NSU’s 17 colleges; and much more. For more information, please visit www.law.nova.edu.
About Nova Southeastern University (NSU): Located in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional degree levels. A private, not-for-profit institution with more than 24,000 students, NSU has campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, while maintaining a presence online globally. For more than 50 years, NSU has been awarding degrees in a wide range of fields, while fostering groundbreaking research and an impactful commitment to community. Classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is 1 of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution. For more information, go to: www.nova.edu.