[Jjpolnet] Leadership Talks: David Utter- Friday, January 27 at 1 pm EST

[Kerrin Sweet]

LCW invites you to participate in an online interview with David Utter, Friday, January 27 at 1 pm EST
David Utter to discuss his challenges and successes working in Louisiana's juvenile justice system.

January 17, 2006 -- Join Leadership for a Changing World on Friday, January 27 for a live, online interview with David Utter of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, and 2005 Leadership for a Changing World award recipient. In addition to answering your questions, David will discuss some of his challenges and successes working in Louisiana's juvenile justice system.

Submit a Question for David Utter

&Individual leadership will always have a role in social- justice movements, but if the changes we seek are to be made long-term and sustainable, it is necessary that we as &leaders’ develop models for progressive reform that remain community-driven rather than personality-driven.” -- David Utter, Director, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana

Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate of any state in the country. Some 70 to 90 percent of jailed youth later spend time in adult prisons. In Louisiana, 1 in 35 African-American boys will make it to college, and 1 out of 7 end up imprisoned or on parole. But with less than 2 percent of Louisiana&prison budget allocated for rehabilitation, incarcerated youth receive little in the way of help to change their lives.
Adding to the problem is endemic racism. &I represented a 13-year-old African-American child who received a juvenile life sentence for the same purse-snatching charge for which his white co- defendant was sentenced to probation,” says David Utter, who directs the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana in New Orleans. &;Race is the indelible factor in my work.”

Utter says he became a lawyer to take on the legal troubles of those who could not afford representation. In Utter&prison first job after law school in the early 1990s, he sued prison systems in Alabama and Louisiana to compel them &to treat prisoners with basic dignity,” as he puts it. Those experiences were one reason Utter and two colleagues founded the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) in 1997. When the JJPL began, Louisiana incarcerated more children than any other state in America. Since then, Louisiana&prison juvenile prison population has dropped from 1,900 to fewer than 500. That change is due in large part to the efforts of Utter and the JJPL.

In 2000, the JJPL filed and won a class-action lawsuit against the privately run Jena Juvenile Justice Center, citing poor management and abysmal conditions. As a result, the state took control of the facility and soon closed it. The JJPL also filed suit against the privately run Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth, another facility that had become notorious for its poor treatment of young offenders. The U.S. Department of Justice joined the legal action, and the settlement of the case in 2000 ultimately closed Tallulah.

Early on, Utter recognized that the families of incarcerated youth often feel as isolated as their sons and daughters. In response, the JJPL began meeting with parents, other relatives, guardians, and friends of incarcerated youth. In time, this group became Families and Friends of Louisiana&prison Incarcerated Children (FFLIC). In the next few years, the JJPL and the parent-led FFLIC will collaborate to &drive the reform debate based on the best interests of at-risk and delinquent children and their families,” Utter says.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Utter was instrumental in a Call for Action to help support New Orleans, where JJPL is located. Through this he was influential in organizing the Survivors Assembly for Reconstruction, an effort to bring together former residents of New Orleans, build unity and create a vision for New Orleans moving forward. The Survivors Assembly for Reconstruction was followed by a rally in New Orleans demanding self-determination, rights to reparation for Hurricane Katrina survivors and the right for survivors and New Orleans’ residents to be an integral voice in the creation of a new New Orleans.

To Participate

Go to http://leadershipforchange.org/talks/discuss.php3? ForumID=37 on Friday, Januart 27th at 1 pm ET. You may go there now to submit a question in advance. Due to time constraints, not all submitted questions will be answered. Leadership Talks is text- based. To participate, you will not need any audio or video software.

If you have any questions about accessing Leadership Talks, please contact Emily Gibson at egibson at advocacy.org or 202-777-7547.

For more information on David Utter

Leadership for a Changing World profile

Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana's website

About Leadership for a Changing World

Leadership for a Changing World seeks to recognize, strengthen and support leaders and to highlight the importance of community leadership in improving people's lives. Leadership for a Changing World is a program of the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Advocacy Institute and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University.

Website: http://www.leadershipforchange.org 

Leadership Talks contact:
Jennifer Deng-Pickett
Events and Communications Manager, LCW
email: jdengpickett at advocacy.org 
phone: 202-777-7579





Forward email



This email was sent to mediahits at comcast.net, by info at leadershipforchange.org 
Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Powered by


Leadership for a Changing World | 1629 K St., NW, #200 | Washington | DC | 20006



Kerrin Sweet
Juvenile Justice Program Coordinator
Child Welfare League of America
(202) 942-0276