Cosponsored with the Juvenile Justice Center

Date: Friday, May 05, 2000

Location: Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont St., Boston, MA
Time: 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM

Attend this conference and explore the relationship between childhood trauma and delinquent behavior with particular regard to development and decision-making. Children on Trial - Delinquency, Trauma & Adolescent Development provides you with the necessary tools to better understand, defend and advocate for services to benefit your client. The curriculum includes:

• Is the Juvenile Court meeting the objectives for which it was created or is punishment the new priority?

• Recognizing the Child in the Delinquency: Discuss a child’s capacity to reason.

• Is it developmentally appropriate not to understand consequences? How does this apply to the issue of intent?

• Trauma and the Effects of Trauma: Impaired child development as a result of neglect and abuse is apparent in child’s actions; Understanding aggression and hyperactivity in this context.

• Adolescent Development – A Critical Component in Understanding Your Client’s Competency and Decision Making Capacity

• Leveraging IDEA to Treat the Whole Child

• All That’s Hyperactive Is Not Necessarily ADHD

• Assessment Tools - Finding the Right Tool and Factoring out Cultural Bias

• Medication – Use and Misuse

• Strategies for Making Social Service Agencies Work for Your Client

~ Plenary Speakers ~

Marty Beyer, Ph.D. is a psychologist and consultant based in Washington, D.C. She has been an expert in numerous class actions and assists states in improving their child welfare and juvenile justice services. Dr. Beyer's publications and presentations focus on understanding children developmentally and designing services to build on their strenghts and meet their needs.

Bernardine Dohrn is Director of the Children and Family Justice Center of the Northwestern University School of Law Legal Clinic. Ms. Dohrn is a founding member of both the American Bar Association's Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children and the ABA Section of Litigation Childrens Law Committee, and she has served on the Advisory Board of the ABA Center for Children and the Law.

Lee Norton, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., is a clinical and forensic psychiatrist in Tallahassee, Florida. Her clinical practice involves treatment of survivors of chronic childhood abuse. She has worked on over 100 capital cases and has trained extensively regarding social history investigations and mental health issues in forensic cases.

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and prominent legal theorist, currently teaches criminal justice and trial advocacy at Harvard Law School. A Washington, D.C. public defender for seven years, Professor Ogletree has received numerous awards including: the National Conference on Black Lawyers "People's Lawyer of the Year Award." He is currently of counsel to the D.C. firm of Jordan, Keys, Jessemy & Botts. Professor Ogletree's most recent publications include chapters in both Beyond the Rodney King Story: An Investigation of Police Conduct in Minority Communities, and Reason & Passion, Justice Brennan's Enduring Influence.