 The
National Juvenile Defender Center organizes and delivers high-quality
training sessions on a broad range of topics for defenders—or,
by request, for other juvenile justice professionals—around
the country. Our expert presenters provide interactive, practice-focused
training for large or small groups; we have been especially successful
at hosting small-scale, intense sessions on narrow topics such as
detention advocacy, competency, or adolescent development. Training
programs can vary in length from hours to days depending on the
needs of the attorneys. Please contact NJDC
if you are interested in co-sponsoring training in your area.
State and Local Training
We can tailor training sessions to fit the needs and interests
of the defenders in attendance and always modify our presentations
to reflect the particular circumstances of the relevant area, but
we are pleased to offer certain standard trainings based on several
of our publications:
- Basic Skills and Strategies—We introduce new attorneys,
or defenders new to juvenile work, to the practice of advocating
at delinquency proceedings. These sessions are based on our Delinquency
Notebook, providing a comprehensive
foundation for zealous advocacy.
- Detention Advocacy—We also host training on detention
advocacy, focused solely on pre-adjudicatory efforts to prevent
the unnecessary detention of youth. These sessions are based on
our detention advocacy guide
and provide a practical explanation of how to represent children
at detention hearings as well as outside the courtroom.
- Adolescent Development—The five modules of our MacArthur
Juvenile Court Training Curriculum focus on child development,
communicating with teens, mental health assessments, pathways
to violence, special education, and competency evaluations. Training
sessions based on the Curriculum can focus on one or any combination
of modules.
Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit
Our major annual training event is the Juvenile Defender Leadership
Summit. This invitation-only event brings together juvenile defenders
from every state and the District of Columbia for three days of
information sharing, training, networking, organizing, and strategic
planning. Presentations focus on a wide range of practice and policy
issues. Each year, we distribute a Juvenile
Defender Resource Guide that includes new articles, studies,
case briefs, court decisions, and other information relevant to
juvenile defense.
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