3/23/06 -- The 33rd National Conference on Juvenile Justice will convene March 26-29, 2006 at the new Hyatt Regency Hotel at Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver with some 1,000 juvenile justice professionals expected to attend. This premiere national conference is co-sponsored by the Reno, Nevada-based National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National District Attorneys Association, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

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

Conference highlights include:

• A number of prominent Colorado officials will be in attendance, including Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey of the Colorado Supreme Court and Denver District Attorney Mitchell Morrissey, who will greet participants at Monday morning’s opening session.

• Former Denver District Attorney Norman S. Early Jr. will deliver the keynote address at 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning. Other plenary sessions will focus on the connection between animal cruelty and human violence, youth at risk, and the methamphetamine crisis.

• Regina Schofield, U.S. Assistant Attorney General, will be Monday’s luncheon speaker. Dr. John Covey of Franklin Covey will speak on strengthening families at Tuesday’s luncheon.

• Administrator J. Robert Flores of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, will deliver the “OJJDP Report” on Tuesday morning, and will announce the publication of Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report, the latest edition in this renowned series, written by Howard Snyder and Melissa Sickmund of the NCJFCJ’s research division, the National Center for Juvenile Justice.

• As many as 16 seminars will run concurrently during the program. Some of the many topics covered will include: child abuse and neglect; girls in the juvenile justice system; disaster planning; bullying; Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines; gangs; domestic violence; juvenile mental health issues; Internet crimes against children; juvenile sex offenders; and truancy.

Since its founding in 1937, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, based on the University of Nevada, Reno campus, has been in the forefront of addressing issues pertaining to juvenile and family law and is a leader in continuing education opportunities, research, and policy development. The NCJFCJ is the nation’s oldest judicial membership organization with more than 1,600 members.