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Juvenile Justice Initiative Educational Session

The members of the Voices for Ohio’s Children Juvenile Justice Initiative joined county leaders in the conversation, “Local Efforts to Reform the Juvenile Justice System in Ohio” on Thursday, November 8, at the Department of Youth Services Training Academy. Director Thomas Stickrath of the Ohio Department of Youth Services (ODYS) spoke early in the agenda regarding the recent and on-going changes to enhance programming for youth. The three main areas of progress are: 1) Pre-Entry-In the Community; 2) Confinement-While in DYS and 3) Re-Entry-Returning Home. The details of this transformation range in addressing the overrepresentation of youth of color or the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) to securing a five year, $14 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to provide intensive literacy intervention to a subset of the DYS population. DYS continues to work with local counties on specific programs to better serve the youth and families in those respective communities.

Director Stickrath’s presentation was followed by a facilitated panel discussion in which panelists were asked to present “Local Efforts to Reform the Juvenile Justice System in Ohio.” The panelists included: (Sharon Weitzenhof, Facilitator)

Fred Baxter, Regional Administrator of the Ohio Department of Youth Services in Dayton, OH. Mr. Baxter provides community correction facility oversight and is responsible for policy development, staff supervision, budget preparation and oversight, contracts and fiscal operations.

Patrick J. Kanary, Director of the Center for Innovative Practices (CIP), a Coordinating Center of Excellence, supported by the Ohio Department of Mental Health. The center’s mission is the identification and dissemination of evidence-based and promising practices within the youth and family behavioral health system of care.

Ken Lusnia, Court Administrator for the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court and over 30 years of legal and juvenile justice experience to the County. Mr. Lusnia has served in private practice, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, Director of Court Services and is the recipient of the David I. Walsh Scholarship.

Honorable Dana S. Preisse, Domestic Relations/Juvenile Court Judge for Franklin County for the past 11 years. She is the lead Juvenile Court Judge in Franklin County and a member of the Ohio Association of Juvenile Court Judges. She participates on the Executive Committee of the Domestic Relations Committee and the Law and Procedures Committee of the association.

Honorable Linda Tucci Teodosio, Juvenile Court Judge for Summit County. She has served as an attorney in private practice, a Staff Attorney for the Ninth District Court of Appeals in Summit County and as a Magistrate in the Akron Municipal Court. Judge Teodosio was elected to the Summit County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Division in 2002.

The Juvenile Justice Initiative is a sound juvenile justice policy agenda that rests upon an understanding of adolescent development and incorporates the following best practice standards:

increasing the range of effective community-based alternatives to institutionalization;
addressing the challenges of youth with special needs; meaningfully engaging families and youth in their care;
improving access to legal advocates to ensure effective representation in the system, and;
ensuring that all youth, regardless of race or income, have equal opportunities for treatment and care.

The panelists and members of the initiative shared an afternoon that will continue to move forward the agenda to transform Ohio’s juvenile justice towards reducing the reliance on institutionalization and engaging families in every area of treatment.

The next educational session will be held on Friday, May 23, 2008, at 12:00 – 3:00p.m. For more information regarding the Juvenile Justice Initiative, please contact Yvonne C. Hunnicutt at yhunnicutt@vfc-oh.org.