Panel discussion with:

• Officer Cynthia Smith;
• Maureen Polen, Esq.;
• Judge Deral Givens;
• Judge Patricia Marks;
• Pastor Fredrick Johnson, Sr. 
• Michael Green Esq.

The purpose of the panel discussion is to help the community understand the complicated interplay of challenges young people in our community have been dealing with since 2020 and criminal justice and what is being done to address the issues for youth charged with crimes in our community. 

We have a youth mental health specialist to present on the complex challenges youth face. There has been some information circling in the community that implies a connection between Raise the Age and Bail Reform and the uptick in certain types of crimes since Covid that does not do justice to the complicated situation. Visiting Assistant Professor Mike Green, Esq. in the RIT Department of Criminal Justice in the College of Liberal Arts, who is also the former Monroe County DA and head of the State Division of Criminal Justice, will present on the actual data that does not support such a connection. Assistant Chief Probation Officer of the Monroe County Office of Probation—Community Corrections, Cynthia Smith, will talk about the Juvenile Enhanced Diversion Stabilization (JEDS) initiative put in place after the nation-wide rise in car thefts and how it has borne local results. Maureen Polen, Esq., Program Director, Attorney for the Child Program of the Legal Aid Society and Monroe County Family Court Judge Deral Givens will discuss what happens in family court and the youth part of criminal court so that people can understand when a youth would go to which court, why and what happens there. 

We are co-sponsoring this event with the Monroe County Bar Association Access to Justice Commission.