National Juvenile Defender Center Juvenile Defense Training and Technical Assistance

The Enhancing Youth Access to Justice Initiative (hereinafter “Initiative”) focuses on providing training and technical assistance to statewide juvenile indigent defense systems, identifying gaps in practice, and providing tools and resources on strategies to enhance the quality of legal representation. This program is authorized under FY17(OJJDP – Juvenile Indigent Defense - TTA) Pub. L. No. 115-31, 131 Stat. 135, 206.

The National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) will provide national juvenile defense TTA, focusing on education, resources, and assistance to individual juvenile defenders, juvenile defense offices, regional juvenile defender resource centers, justice partners and communities, and states, tribes, and localities committed to improving their juvenile defense systems and services. NJDC will promote juvenile defense reform and improve the overall quality and availability of juvenile defense services through the development and implementation of data-driven decision making, developmentally informed policies and programs, and nationally recognized best practices. CA/NCF