Civil Justice

Mr. Hood participated in a conference call with District Attorney Christopher Hicks of the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office regarding conviction integrity units.

The Center for Court Innovation and the Red Hook Community Justice Center will present on the innovative Red Hook Peacemaking Program out of Brooklyn, NY. This presentation will focus on how the prosecutors, state courts, judges and other justice system stakeholders are becoming increasingly interested in developing peacemaking programs of their own. Peacemaking is a traditional Native American form of justice that promotes healing and restoration.

Two Center staff members presented " A Problem-Solving Approach to Tribal Court Assessments."

Center staff met with Chief Judge, Court Coordinator, Chief Probation Officer, and Tribal Council Member to discuss the status of the tribe’s community court project and outline specific action steps for moving the project forward

On June 20, 2015 Isaac Wheeler, Legal Director of the Immigration Practice at The Bronx Defenders, gave a CLE at the American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual National Conference regarding representing clients who are in both the Criminal Justice System and the Immigration Court System. Mr. Wheeler spoke of the importance of a holistic approach to representing these clients.

On May 28, 2015 Isaac Wheeler, the Legal Director for the Immigration Practice at The Bronx Defenders gave a CLE Training on representing Immigrant Clients using Holistic Advocacy to the Suffolk County Criminal Bar Association.

On May 8, 2015 Molly Kovel, Legal Director of the Civil Action Practice gave a presentation at John Jay College of Criminal Justice regarding the reformation of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) policy of excluding people with criminal records. The presentation covered the current policy and the areas ripe for reform.

On April 8, 2015 Sarah Knight, a Social Worker at The Bronx Defenders and Maria Andia-Monica, a Civil Legal Advocate spoke at the NASW Conference. Ms. Knight and Ms. Monica spoke about the necessity for an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to representing clients in Immigration Removal Proceedings.

Christa Douaihy, Practice Supervisor for the Civil Action Practice at The Bronx Defenders, was a panelist at Fordham Law School on the topic of HIV and the Law. Ms. Douaihy spoke of a recent litigation victory in Criminal Court due to the work of civil attorneys at The Bronx Defenders intervening on behalf of the client to keep his HIV status from being made public in the courtroom at trial. In criminal cases when a client;'s HIV status becomes an issue there is a great necessity for civil legal involvement.

In the state of Texas, the Office of the Governor is the SAA. The SAA works collaboratively with the Texas Association of Regional Councils (TARC), made up of the regional planning staff for the 24 Texas regions, to do statewide criminal justice planning. On April 22, 2015, NCJA received a request to present onsite training at the regional planners’ annual meeting in late September, 2015. The criminal justice planners are interested in onsite presentations and training by NCJA staff on both grants management and strategic planning.