| Juveniles & the Courts |
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Latest NewsFor young people and their families, who find themselves involved in the legal system, Texas Appleseed provides free guides (in English and Spanish) to help them better understand how juvenile justice system operates and how they can assist in their own defense. Texas Appleseed's latest resource for juvenile judges and court discusses the impact of current laws and policies on Texas' young offenders and provides an overview of alternative "front end" approaches proven to keep youth from repeatedly cycling throught the juvenile justice system
Project BackgroundAs part of a larger report on "fair defense" of the indigent, Texas Appleseed published Selling Justice Short documenting a broken system in which low-income juvenile defendants rarely went to trial, but instead plead guilty to criminal charges soon after arrest. These reports lay the groundwork for the Fair Defense Act (passed in September 2001) which changed the way that lawyers are appointed to indigent adults and juveniles charged with crimes in Texas. This Act requires each county’s juvenile board to adopt a plan for the appointment of counsel to juveniles whose families are unable to pay. It also sets qualification standards for court-appointed attorneys representing juveniles. Funders & CollaboratorsTexas Appleseed is grateful to Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and to Houston Endowment and the Meadows Foundation for their generous support of the juvenile handbook project. The Southwest Regional Juvenile Defender Center at the University of Houston Law School collaborated in the development of the handbooks.
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