Youth Access to Counsel Project

The Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services proposes to implement the Youth Access to Counsel Project. The purpose is to enhance the representation of youth charged with juvenile or criminal offenses throughout the state of Maine. Project activities include updating the standards of practice for assigned counsel representing youth; assisting with the establishment and implementation of Maine’s first juvenile public defender office; assisting with trainings for counsel who represent youth, including identifying training needs, creating and presenting content, and/or finding qualified trainers; identifying and working to resolve systemic access to counsel barriers; and reviewing youth commitments to detention centers with a goal of improving the quality and effectiveness of counsel as well as proposing any system-level changes which reduce youth incarceration and reduce the disparate impact of incarceration on African American children.