PRINCETON
-The New
Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission
will host a statewide conference on April
7 and 8, 2005 at the Westin Princeton
at Forrestal Village in Princeton that
focuses on creating alternatives to the
placement of youth in detention centers.
Over 130 people are registered to attend.
A listing of presentations that are open
to the press follows.
In April 2004, New Jersey became an official
replication site for the Annie E. Casey
Foundation’s Juvenile Detention
Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) and was
awarded $200,000 by the Foundation. The
conference is made possible through that
grant. JDAI was created by the Annie E.
Casey Foundation ten years ago, and has
as its overall goal, the reduction of
detention center populations while maintaining
public safety and court appearance rates.
Members of each County JDAI Steering Committee,
as well as State Steering Committee members
will be in attendance. The conference
is meant to draw all key leaders working
on the JDAI in New Jersey together to
share accomplishments and discuss further
improvements with experts from around
the country who have achieved success
through the JDAI.
“Due
to the Juvenile Detention Alternatives
Initiative, New Jersey has already experienced
significant success in reducing the number
of juveniles inappropriately placed in
county detention centers in the counties
participating in JDAI,” said Howard
L. Beyer, Executive Director, Juvenile
Justice Commission. “By working
together with all of partners in the juvenile
justice system, we will continue to examine
and improve our juvenile justice system.”
New Jersey’s Juvenile Detention
Alternatives Initiative is currently being
piloted in five counties: Atlantic, Camden,
Essex, Hudson and Monmouth. The Initiative
is led by the New Jersey Juvenile Justice
Commission, in partnership with a State
Steering Committee with membership from
the Attorney General’s Office (including
Police and Prosecutors), the Judiciary
(including Administration, Judges and
Probation), the Department of Human Services,
the Public Defenders Office, the Office
of the Child Advocate, the Office of Education,
County Administration representatives,
County Youth Services Commission representatives,
the New Jersey Juvenile Detention Association,
the Governor’s Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention Committee and
the Institute for Social Justice.
Press is invited to attend the following
sessions. Working sessions are not open
to the press.
Conference
Schedule
Thursday,
April 7
9:00
a.m.
A presentation by residents of the JJC’s
Vorrhees Residential Community Home.
Welcome remarks:
Howard L. Beyer, Executive Director,
Juvenile Justice Commission
Honorable Philip Carchman, Administrative
Director, Administrative Office of the
Courts, NJ
Paul DeMuro, Consultant, PD Associates
Lisa Macaluso, Director, Office of
Local Programs and Services, JJC
9:40
“These are All Our Kids: Discussion
of Minority Overrepresentation”
James Bell, Executive Director, W.
Haywood Burns Institute, San Francisco,
CA,
with introduction by Raquel Mariscal,
Sr. Associate for Juvenile Justice,
Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore,
MD
10:05
“Working with JDAI Strategies -
New Jersey’s Approach”
Jennifer LeBaron, PhD., Senior Research
Associate, JJC
12:00
“How Does NJ Fit into the National
JDAI Movement?” - Lunch Presenation
Bart Lubow, Director, Program for
High Risk Youth, Annie E. Casey Foundation,
Baltimore, MD
Friday,
April 8
12:30
“The Child Behavioral Health System”
- Lunch Presentation
Kathi Way, Director, Child Behavioral
Health Services, NJ NJ Department of Human
Services
Kevin Ryan, Child Advocate, Office
of the Child Advocate, NJ
For more information, please call 609-541-5054.
# # #