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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana State Bar Association learned May 18 that 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.
“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.”
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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