More than 800 juvenile justice professionals from Missouri and around the country are expected to participate in the 35th National Conference on Juvenile Justice which will convene March 9-12, 2008 at St. Louis’ Cervantes Convention Center at America’s Center. This premier national conference is co-sponsored by NCJFCJ and the National District Attorneys Association, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

Judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, probation officers, detention and corrections workers, police, social workers, and others from around the country will attend the 2-1/2 day program which will focus on the challenging issues facing our juvenile and family courts, including juvenile delinquency, child abuse and neglect, and domestic violence, among many others.

Conference highlights include the following:

• State and local dignitaries, including Chief Justice Laura Denvir Stith and Justice Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., of the Supreme Court of Missouri, and Judge Jimmie Edwards of the St. Louis Family Court will greet participants at 9:00 a.m. during Monday morning’s opening session. Tim Decker, Director of the Missouri Division of Youth Services will discuss “The Missouri Model” following the opening session.
  
• Victor Rivers, who survived a troubled childhood to become an actor, athlete, activist and author, will deliver the keynote address at 9:50 a.m. Monday morning, telling his story of how community intervention helped turn his life from hard-core gang member to community leader. Other plenary sessions will focus on adolescent drug use trends, the relationship between dog fighting and juvenile delinquency, and the disproportionate numbers of minorities involved in the juvenile justice system. Administrator J. Robert Flores of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, will deliver the “OJJDP Report,” at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
  
• As many as 15 seminars will run concurrently during the program, focusing on topics including: out-of-control youth; exploitation of children; methamphetamine addiction; girls in the juvenile justice system; character education; juvenile accountability; suicide; gangs; the effects of domestic violence on children; juvenile mental health issues; school violence; and juvenile sex offenders.