The 34th National Conference on Juvenile Justice will convene March 4-7, 2007 at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego with some 1,000 juvenile justice professionals expected to attend. This premiere national conference is co-sponsored by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, which this year is celebrating its 70th anniversary working on behalf of children and families, 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:

• California state and local officials will participate in the conference, including San Diego Deputy District Attorney Robert Eichlen, who will greet participants at Monday morning’s opening session. 
• New York City Juvenile Court Judge Michael Corriero, author of Judging Children as Children: A Proposal for the Juvenile Justice System, will deliver the keynote address at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, exploring such questions as: What is justice for children who violate the law? How should society judge young offenders? Other plenary sessions will focus on truancy and building community partnerships. 
• Los Angeles County Chief Probation Officer Robert Taylor will present Wednesday’s closing session, “Camp Kilpatrick: The Real Life Behind the Gridiron Gang,” which will focus on life behind the walls of the Los Angeles County probation camp recently portrayed in the movie, “Gridiron Gang.”
• Officials from the U.S. Office of Justice Programs will speak on recent developments at the agency: On Tuesday, Administrator J. Robert Flores of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, will deliver the “OJJDP Report,” and on Wednesday morning, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cybele Daley will present the “OJP Update.”
• As many as 17 seminars will run concurrently during the program. Some of the many topics covered will include: substance abuse; girls in the juvenile justice system; self-injury; juvenile accountability; the link between child abuse, neglect and delinquency; gangs; the effects of domestic violence on children; court and media relations; youth courts; juvenile mental health issues; Internet crimes committed by and against juveniles; and juvenile sex offenders.
   
  For more information, please click here. For press inquiries, please e-mail Jackie Ruffin at jruffin@ncjfcj.org.