Senator Montgomery Participates in Panel Discussion on Juvenile Justice in New York State: Practice and Reforms

Sen. Velmanette Montgomery from The Fund for Modern Courts on Vimeo.

Modern Courts' Forum on Juvenile Justice in NYS: Legal Practice Policy Proposals and the Critical Need for Reform: May 2010

Senator Velmanette Montgomery participated in a panel  discussion on the present practice and newest policy proposals and initiatives in juvenile justice in New York State.

The program focused on new issues in the representation of children in juvenile offender proceedings, as well as new laws, statewide and local initiatives, and forward thinking policies seeking to reform the juvenile justice system.

Issues that were reviewed included the legal consequences of reform including the Chief Judge’s proposal to place juvenile probation under the jurisdiction of the judiciary, sentencing alternatives and programs to address the failure of juvenile facilities, changes to the law to alter New York’s treatment of certain offense as adult crimes, and the practical ways lawyers and the courts can address juvenile justice as a statewide issue in need of reform.

Panelist included: Hon. Velmanette Montgomery, New York State Senator and Chair of the Senate Committee on Children and Families, Kathleen R. DeCataldo, Esq., Executive Director of the Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, Gretchen Walsh, Esq., Counsel to the Judiciary Task Force on Probation and Clerk to Hon. Alan D. Scheinkman, Administrative Judge for the 9th Judicial District, Karen Riley, Esq., Executive Director, Children’s Rights Society of Orange County; Mark Seidler, MA, Restorative Justice/Suffolk County; Luisa Taveras, Esq., Program Officer, US Programs, Criminal Justice Fund, Open Society Institute, DeAvery Irons, Esq., Associate Director of the Juvenile Justice Project of the Correctional Association of New York; Hugh G. Burke, Esq., Assistant County Attorney, Saratoga. Moderator, Dennis R. Hawkins, Executive Director, The Fund for Modern Courts, former Chief of Rackets Division, Kings County District Attorney’s Office.