The Marshall-Brennan Program at the Youth Services Center
Washington, DC
As the first step for the National Youth Justice Alliance (NYJA), volunteers are bringing constitutional literacy to juveniles who are detained at the Youth Services Center in Washington, DC. Volunteers are implementing the mission of the NYJA – empowering youth through constitutional literacy to fight recidivism. Students will learn about their 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendment rights by using the Youth Justice in America textbook as well as open discussions with the volunteer teachers. The aim is to encourage dialogue between the students and the teachers to enhance verbal skills and critical analysis of the laws that most directly apply to the juveniles.

The Youth Services Center opened its classroom doors to students on February 2, 2005. This residential program is designed for detained youth and houses approximately 80 residents ages 12-22, who are awaiting placement or disposition. Youth who are not able to successfully function in their communities are sent to the Youth Services Center by the juvenile justice system.

The Marshall-Brennan Program at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
The Marshall-Brennan program at the University of Pennsylvania Law School will initiate two new projects designed educate Philadelphia students about the Constitution and its relevance to their lives. The two new projects will teach students at the Youth Study Center and at a Community Education Partners School.

Marshall-Brennan Program law students will teach at one of Philadelphia’s Community Education Partners Schools, which have been established for students who are no longer eligible to attend their neighborhood schools. In this program, one class of high-school seniors will receive a weekly lesson on the Constitution and the role it plays in their lives. Because a high percentage of the students in the CEP school have encountered the juvenile justice system at some point in their lives, instructors will focus on the practical protections afforded by the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights. These lessons will aim to illustrate to students that while the legal system and the Constitution often serve to restrict liberty in ways the students may have personally experienced, they can also serve as powerful guardians of liberty.

A future project will be at the Youth Study Center. The Youth Study Center houses 105 juveniles awaiting scheduled court dates and serves as the only secure youth detention facility in Philadelphia. With the assistance of Professor Laval Miller-Wilson and Professor Sandra Simkins, Marshall-Brennan Program law students and law students from the Juvenile Justice Seminar will teach a 90-minute curriculum specifically designed to educate Youth Study Center students about their Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment Constitutional rights. The curriculum encourages student debate and interaction in order to afford students the opportunity to discuss their own personal experiences with the juvenile justice system, as well as their ideas about the system’s current deficiencies. The students, many of whom are about to face adjudication in the juvenile justice system, will learn about the role of their attorneys and about their attorneys’ obligations to them. Overall, this project aims not only to educate incarcerated youth about their rights in the juvenile justice system, but also to provide them with a practical understanding of how to best utilize their right to counsel and other constitutional protections as proactive tools for improving their lives and communities.

Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop
Free Minds Book Club introduces young inmates to the transformative power of books and creative writing. By mentoring them and connecting them to supportive services throughout their incarceration into reentry, Free Minds inspires these youths to see their potential and achieve new educational and career goals.

Free Minds serves the more than 50 new male juveniles, who are charged and incarcerated as adults at the DC Jail each year. Ninety two percent are African American and 8 percent are Latino. The majority comes from the city’s most crime-stricken neighborhoods where nearly half of the children live below the poverty rate. At 16 and 17 years old, they read on average, at a fifth grade level and most have already dropped out of, or disengaged from school. More than half of the youth served by Free Minds also have parents or other close family members who have been incarcerated, and a majority already has children themselves. Juveniles who are incarcerated as adults are at extremely high risk for future violent criminal activity. At the same time, access to educational programs while incarcerated has proven to reduce recidivism. By reaching these youths at this critical juncture, and exciting them about learning, Free Minds motivates these young men to pursue positive new directions for their futures. Free Minds has served more than 200 youths through its Book Club., Continuing Support and Reentry Programs. Free Minds uses books and creative writing to empower young inmates to transform their lives. By mentoring and connecting them to supportive services throughout their entire incarceration into reentry, Free Minds inspires these youths to see their potential and achieve new educational and career goals.

Youth Rights Media
Youth Rights Media is a nonprofit organization based in New Haven that is dedicated to empowering youth to protect and advance their rights in relation to the criminal justice system. YRM's work is grounded in the belief that youth who have been marginalized and stigmatized by the criminal justice system – and disregarded by the public at large – have the potential to become committed, focused, and passionate leaders. In order to create transformative leadership opportunities for traditionally disengaged youth, YRM engages young people in video media production and community organizing so that they are equipped with the tools, skills, and strategies for affecting change within themselves, their communities, and Connecticut's deeply troubled juvenile justice system.
Youth Rights Media accomplishes its mission by empowering youth voice by channeling their collective insight. With programming that is anchored in popular education pedagogy, YRM provides youth with tools, skills, and strategies for analyzing and articulating the connections between community problems and social-political issues, thereby building youths' conviction in – and capacity for – creating positive social change.

Youth Advocacy Project / Know the Law Program
YAP provides advocacy and legal representation for young people who are unable to pay for counsel in delinquency, youthful offender cases, and related disciplinary and administrative proceedings. The project offers clinical assessment, service planning, and referrals to high-risk youth to prevent chronic court involvement and help them lead productive lives. YAP also offers education and training to families and children, youth-serving professionals, and members of the community.

YAP's work combines Zealous Advocacy with the Youth Development Approach. YAP recognizes that successful legal outcomes and positive youth development outcomes are inextricably intertwined. Children are different from adults. Physically, cognitively, emotionally, and psychologically they are works in progress - they require stability and protection to develop their capacities for intelligence, productivity, and empathy.
Knowledge Empowers Youth
Whether you are a young person interested in learning more about the law and your rights or a parent or youth-serving professional in need of a refresher course on the rights and responsibilities of youth, the Youth Advocacy Project's Know the Law workshops are available to you at no cost. Click here to download our information pamphlet (If you do not have the Adobe Reader, download it for free at Adobe Online) or just read on!

In addition to representing children in juvenile court, YAP attorneys and the community outreach coordinator talk to young people in programs and in the community about the law and their rights and responsibilities. This is done through a free workshop entitled "Know the Law." This interactive discussion-based curriculum provides young people, parents, and youth workers with knowledge of the juvenile justice system.

The information we have to offer is helpful and could prove useful to a child who may encounter the law in some way or another. Workshops can be done as a one or two-part curriculum, with each part lasting 60-90 minutes. The content of the workshop can be tailored for the particular needs of an organization with sufficient notice. Workshops are presented by one or two juvenile defense attorneys and may include other staff members from the Youth Advocacy Project. Topics covered include:

• The Juvenile Justice System and the Key Players
• Consequences of Court Involvement
• Search & Seizure Rights
• Education Laws
• Joint Venture and Constructive Possession
• Self-Defense Law

Young people as well as youth workers exposed to our workshops will not only gain valuable information about the juvenile justice system, but will also come to see YAP as a resource.
For more information on YAP's Know the Law Program, please contact Krista Kessler at (617) 989-8148.