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The Indiana State Bar Association has learned it will receive the LexisNexis 2010 Community and Educational Outreach Award
for the “Summit on Racial Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System: A Statewide Dialogue,” which took place
in August 2009.
The ISBA will receive the award at the National Association of Bar Executives membership luncheon in August in San Francisco,
according to Carissa Long, assistant director of communications for the ISBA.
Indiana Lawyer covered the conference in the Sept. 2-15, 2009 issue.
“It takes a lot of hard work, not only to put together a summit of such magnitude, but to get key legislation passed,”
ISBA President Roderick Morgan said via e-mail. “Special credit goes to JauNae Hanger, Paje Felts and Representative
Linda Lawson for their visionary approach on this issue. I am pleased to have a relatively small part in all of this.”
Hanger helped coordinate the summit and worked on House Enrolled Act 1193 with Felts and Lawson during the 2010 session. The act
was a direct response to discussions that took place at the conference. That act provides for a commission of various stakeholders,
including teachers, police officers, mental health workers, social workers, attorneys, principals, and others who come into
regular contact with juveniles.
“Racial disparities in the juvenile justice system is not just a problem in Indiana,” Hanger said via e-mail.
“All states are grappling with how to reduce disparate results for our youth. This national award reaffirms the importance
of Indiana’s recent steps to address this problem in a comprehensive and systemic way to benefit Indiana’s children.
Much of what Indiana does will definitely be groundbreaking and be greatly watched by others around the nation.”
Hanger added the ISBA will release a follow-up report to the summit at the organization’s annual meeting in October.
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