Two Philadelphia attorneys are taking innovative approaches to assist youth offenders who are referred to adult court.
Lauren Fine and Joanna Visser Adjoian, co-founders of the Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project, are dedicated to improving the outlook for youths in the adult criminal justice system by advocating for alternatives to prison, the Inquirer reported.
The two attorneys discovered the needs of families and children who didn’t know how to express their circumstances – and attorneys who didn’t know how to represent their clients — while working together at the Juvenile Law Center.
They worked to develop a multi-pronged approach that includes casework, policy advocacy, training, and referral services. Both attorneys quit their jobs and launched their non-profit, the Inquirer reported.
“There’s such a tendency in the criminal justice system to have this dichotomous victim-offender relationship,” Visser Adjoian said. “But it’s not that clear-cut. These families can carry both labels: ‘victim’ and ‘offender.’”
One client, a 17-year-old pregnant foster youth, had been a victim of sexual and domestic abuse she was arrested on a gun charge.
“YSRP compiled a 65-page report documenting her history and offering options that would keep her with her child. It included two letters of acceptance into inpatient mother-child drug treatment programs YSRP had located. Her case remains in adult court, but there’s hope the judge will draw on the work in sentencing,” the Inquirer stated.
“It’s humanizing,” said Fine. “That’s the essence of what we’re trying to do.”
Judge Benjamin Lerner, who presides over decertification hearings in Philadelphia, said psychiatric evaluations tend to be his most important tool. But the YSRP reports have been helpful, he said.
Philadelphia has the most juvenile lifers than any other state – about 20 percent of the nation’s total. In 2012, 375 juveniles, ages 11 to 17, were sentenced as adults, the Inquirer reported.
The District Attorney’s Office said 305 juvenile cases were charged in adult court in 2014; 111 continued there and 141 were moved to Juvenile Court.
