Monday, March 29, 2010

Symposium: LIVE BLOGGING

Today's Symposium was an amazing success! I want to give a special THANKS to our Symposium Chair Kenya Wells for putting this all together! As promised, all our speakers were amazing - a big THANKS to them too!

In case you couldn't make it, I was live blogging during Panel 2 and 3 so be sure to read the transcripts below. I included links, etc. to try to narrate what it was all about. Also, take a look at a re-cap of Panel 1 posted by Notes Editor, (and one of next year's EICs!) Mary Murphy.





Panel 1 Recap

The first group of panelists (Richard Lavallo from Advocacy, Inc., Deborah Fowler from Texas Appleseed, and Mark Levin from the Center for Effective Justice) discussed many of the larger systemic problems that contribute to problems in the juvenile justice system. Mr. Lavallo shared a video documentary which included interviews with youth with mental health issues at Texas Youth Commission. He noted the significant lack of planning involved when youth with mental health issues are released from TYC. These youth are often released to more rural areas without the mental health resources (both professionals and medication) as readily available as they were at TYC. Mr. Lavallo presented that many of these youth have mental problems that perhaps should preclude them from standing trial in the first place. He also noted that these youth are, in most cases, victims of abuse and trauma themselves and are entitled to treatment. TYC's incarceration policy includes use of force and restraint, which tends to exacerbate the affect of trauma on youth with mental health issues.

Ms. Fowler introduced the concept of the "School to Prison Pipeline." Texas Appleseed is conducting research on the statistic that the number one indicator of an individuals future incarceration is past disciplinary action taken against them in schools. She noted that this means, primarily, that schools' discipline procedures are failing to improve behavior in students. Ms. Fowler also discussed the way in which schools "took and ran" with the idea of zero tolerance policy from the juvenile criminal system. While schools are required to report certain behaviors, discretionary referrals far outnumber mandatory referrals.

Finally, Mr. Levin briefly discussed changes in the juvenile justice system that have decreased the number of youth in TYC. Youth who commit misdemeanors now go through juvenile probation rather than immediately to TYC, and TYC has instituted "length of time" review panels that seeks to be proactive in evaluating the appropriate time necessary for a youth's incarceration in TYC. Mr. Levin noted that peer contagion is a serious problem in TYC, and efforts should continue to mete appropriate consequences to youth who have committed less serious offenses.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

2010 Symposium MONDAY, March 29!

This year's topic is juvenile justice - and we have some AMAZING speakers lined up. Check out the info:



Please join the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights in
conjunction with the American Journal of Criminal Law for a symposium
on Juvenile Justice: the Rights of Minors in the American Criminal
Justice System next Monday, March 29, 2010 starting at 9:00 a.m. in
the Eidman Courtroom, at the University of Texas School of Law.
The School of Law is located at 727 E. Dean Keeton, Austin, TX 78705.
The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available on Dean Keeton
and in the San Jacinto parking Garage, located on campus. The following link
provides directions to parking in the San Jacinto garage:
http://www.utexas.edu/law/about/parking.html
List of events:

9:00-9:10: Welcome
9:15-10:30 Meeting the Needs of Juvenile Offenders: The Legal and
Policy Response featuring Deborah Fowler of Texas Appleseed, Richard
Lavallo of Advocacy Inc., and Marc Levin of Texas Public Policy
Foundation
10:45-11:45 Dealing with Serious Juvenile Offenders in the Juvenile
Justice System featuring Riley Shaw of the Tarrant County District
Attorney’s Office and Kameron Johnson of the Travis County Juvenile
Public Defender’s Office
12:00:1:00 Lunch in the Sheffield Room
1:15-2:30 National Juvenile Justice Reform Initiatives featuring
Michele Deitch of the University of Texas Schools of Law and Public
Affairs, Jody Kent of the National Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of
Youth, and Cynthia Totten of Just Detention International

5:30-7:30 Happy Hour at 219 West, located at 219 West 4th St., Austin, TX 78701

For further inquiries about the symposium, you may contact us via email at tjclcrsymposiumchair@gmail.com. We sincerely hope to see you in the Eidman Courtroom on Monday!

Hope to see you there!

Also, here is the video about mental illness of juvenile offenders that Richard Lavallo from our first panel will be showing:

OIO Mental Health Discharges (Draft 7) from Will Harrell on Vimeo.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Unlawful Search and Seizure: Like Taking Candy From A Baby

Since 2002, Texas' Department of State Health Services has been storing samples of newborn babies' blood for research on birth defects. Although it sounds like reasonable research, the Department failed to clear one tiny detail - consent. In other words, if you've had a baby in Texas since 2002, there is a good chance the State has some of your little one's DNA stored somewhere in a Texas A&M University lab. Creepy.

Thankfully, last week the Department announced it would destroy the blood samples (totaling to over 5 million) as part of a settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project. The lawsuit alleged that the State violated the constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure. As a result, any blood sample collected without consent will be destroyed. Additionally, the Department must publish a list of all the research projects that used the blood samples. That should be an interesting read...

This is so scary to me. Not only is it an unlawful seizure, but it is the biggest privacy breach I can think of. The state has actual DNA - proof that Child A will develop X genetic disease later in life. What if that information somehow ended up in the wrong hands? A health insurance company for example. Exactly the horrific situation from the movie Gattaca (you should watch it...even if you don't like Ethan Hawke). Basic plot: as a newborn you are screened for diseases and then discriminated against depending on your "superiority."

For a State that makes such a big deal out of conducting open meetings, it seems extremely suspect that they would keep this scheme a secret. If they aren't doing anything wrong or controversial with the blood, why would they keep it so hush hush? I'm sure millions of parents would consent to donate the blood to the cause as long as they knew where it was going - in other words, I have a hard time believing that getting consent would significantly hinder any sort of valid scientific innovation.

Thoughts? Please post comments!
~AnDrea