Precious Resources Crew Interviews Robert Schwartz, Esq. Executive Director of the Juvenile Law Center, Philadelphia, PA (website)

The Precious Resources co-directors interviewed Robert Schwartz on Friday, April 1st, at the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville. Schwartz was the keynote speaker for “The Politics of Protecting Children” symposium sponsored by the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy.

Robert Schwartz co-founded Juvenile Law Center in 1975 and has been its executive director since 1982. With over 30 years at Juvenile Law Center, Schwartz is a national leader in advocating for children's rights and has extensive experience in all areas of juvenile law.

In his career at Juvenile Law Center, Schwartz has represented dependent and delinquent children in Pennsylvania juvenile and appellate courts; brought class-action litigation over institutional conditions and probation functions; testified in Congress before House and Senate committees; and spoken in over 25 states on matters related to children and the law.

Schwartz's career has not been limited to Pennsylvania, but has included fighting nationally and internationally for juvenile rights. From 1992-98 he was chair of the Juvenile Justice Committee of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section, a position he resumed in 2006. In 1993 he visited South Africa to help develop a legal system for children. In 1993 he also co-authored the American Bar Association's report, America's Children at Risk; and in 1995 he helped author a follow-up report on youth's access to quality lawyers, A Call for Justice.

From 1996-2006, Schwartz was a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. As part of the Network, he co-edited Youth on Trial: A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice (University of Chicago Press: 2000). From 1996-99 he was a gubernatorial appointee to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Since 1991 he has been a gubernatorial appointee to the Commission's Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Committee which is the State Advisory Group that distributes federal funds in Pennsylvania and advises the governor regarding juvenile justice policy. Schwartz in 2005 became chair of the Advisory Committee to the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. Schwartz also is chair of the Board of the Philadelphia Youth Network.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Andrew Hamilton Award, presented by the Philadelphia Bar Association "for exemplary service in the public interest," the Reginald Heber Smith Award, presented by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Livingston Hall Award, presented by the American Bar Association, and the Stephen M. Cahn Award, presented by the National Association of Counsel for Children for career achievement. Schwartz is a graduate of Haverford College and Temple University School of Law.

Precious Resources Directors attend Duke Forum for Law & Social Change at Duke University School of Law “Our Youth at a Crossroad; The Collateral Consequences of Juvenile Adjudication” (Link to:Duke Law)

The directors of the Film “Precious Resources Caught in a Pipeline,” a forum of attorney participants, from throughout the United States who discussed the collateral effects of the School to Prison Pipeline. Important topics of discussion were; “Collateral Consequences of Arrest and Court involvement;” “Invisible Punishments: The Obligation to Inform Juvenile Defendants of the Collateral Consequences of Adjudications;” “Pains of Imprisonment Across Types of Correctional Facilities: Consequences of Harsh Punishments for Juveniles;” Creating Positive Consequences: Using Juvenile Adjudication to Improve Educational Outcomes;” “Truancy Prosecutions of Students and the Right (to) Education;” “Collateral Consequences of the Delinquency Process: Eviction from Public Housing;” and “Immigration Consequences of Juvenile Adjudications: How Our Immigration System Violates Fundamental Human Rights of Children.” The directors arranged interviews with attorney participants and their clients to lend a more personal perspective to the issues addressed in the documentary film.

Precious Resources Crew film STEP presentation at the Educational Law Practicum, University of Tennessee, College of Law, Knoxville, TN
(link to: UT Law)

Reporter, Otis L.Sanford, for The Commercial Appeal (Memphis Newspaper) reported in July, 2010 that leaders, Mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. and Juvenile Court Judge Person, "made public a practice that had been quietly going on in the city for the past few months. Police have been issuing more summonses to juveniles accused of minor offenses instead of hauling them Downtown in the back of a squad car to the detention facility at Juvenile Court." Due to news of these efforts interviews were scheduled this summer with Mayor A. C. Wharton and Judge Person of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County to discuss their new policy and practice.

The Memphis collaboration represents the first steps of a progressive and positive approach in Juvenile Justice and the reduction of the criminalization of young people. Precious Resources Crew M. Wayne Dyer, Barbara H. Dyer, and Carrie Dyer, conducted interviews with Jerry W. Maness, Director of Court Services Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County on July 27 th and with A. C. Wharton Jr., Mayor of Memphis, Tennessee on July 30th.

Ms. Dohrn, Nationally known advocate for childrens rights was interviewed while speaking the at Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline: The Continued Criminalization of Our Youth/ Strategies for Systemic Change Conference sponsored by Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, (TACDL) Nashville School of Law, Nashville, TN.

Ms. Dohrn attended Miami University for one year, then transferred to the University of Chicago, where she graduated with honors with a B.A. in Political Science in 1963. Dohrn received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1967, She moved to New York to work for the National Lawyers Guild in 1967.

In 1991, she was hired by Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, as "Clinical Associate Professor of Law". Her career at the law school is an example of a person's ability to make a difference in the legal system."

Ms. Waldman supervises law and social work students in their representation of young people charged with delinquent and status offenses, engages in policy work related to juvenile justice issues, and teaches a course in juvenile justice. Earlier Ms. Waldman spent over five years as a Senior Attorney at Advocates for Children, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring quality and equal public education services for New York City's most vulnerable students. While at AFC, Ms. Waldman represented parents and students at all levels of administrative proceedings to obtain appropriate special education services for students with disabilities, represented students in student discipline cases, served as co-counsel in several impact litigation cases in federal court, and directed the pro bono and law student intern programs.

Interview of Randle L. Jennings, Teacher, Memphis City Schools

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