Children in far too many states are forced to appear in court shackled – often wearing handcuffs, leg irons, and belly chains connecting ankle and hand restraints. Ready to do something about it? Then check out our recorded webinar, "Unchain the Children: Policy Opportunities to End the Shackling of Youth in Court."
In this webinar, co-sponsored by the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, presenters David Shapiro of the Campaign Against Indiscriminate Juvenile Shackling and George Yeannakis of the Washington State Office of Public Defense and NJJN member TeamChild, discussed the practical, policy, and constitutional reasons to reform universal shackling practices and successful strategies for reforming shackling policies.
The webinar was held on Wednesday, October 1, at 1:00 PM ET.
>> Download the policy update on key strategies to end youth shackling. It draws on work done by the Juvenile Indigent Defense Action Network, supported by Models for Change.
>> Download a recording of the complete webinar.
>> Download the presenters' PowerPoint presentation.
>> Suggested amendment to juvenile court rules: indiscriminate shackling.
About the Presenters:
David Shapiro is campaign manager for the Campaign Against Indiscriminate Juvenile Shackling. He was the Gault Fellow at the National Juvenile Defender Center from 2012 to 2014. He earned his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in June 2012, where he received five public interest fellowships for his work on juvenile justice issues and co-chaired the Suspension Representation Project. David was a visiting student at Keble College, Oxford from 2007-08, and graduated magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis with an A.B. in History and Political Science in 2009.
George Yeannakis holds the position of Public Defense Services Manager for the Washington State Office of Public Defense. The office strives to improve the delivery of indigent defense services throughout the state. George was a public defender in Seattle for over 20 years with The Defender Association and Society of Counsel, where he supervised the juvenile offender unit. He was lured from public defense to establish the Youth Advocacy Clinic at Seattle University School of Law. He continues to advocate for improvements in the representation of youthful offenders through his association with TeamChild, a civil legal services firm in Seattle (and NJJN member). At TeamChild, he works to enhance the quality of indigent juvenile defense through training, leadership development and technical assistance.