March 30, 2010

Sue Burrell Speaker at Mental Health Conference

YLC Staff Attorney Sue Burrell was an invited speaker at the Forensic Mental Health Association of California’s annual conference held March 24-26, 2010, in Seaside, California. The group brings together judges, lawyers, court experts and staff from forensic mental health programs around the state to focus on legal and policy issues relating to mental health. Sue spoke on “Juvenile Competence to Stand Trial” and presented a protocol for handling cases involving potential competence issues juvenile court. YLC has been working on juvenile competence issues for several years, and published Incompetence in California Juvenile Justice (this is already on the YLC web site, so put in link). More recently, as part of their work on the MacArthur Juvenile Indigent Defense Action Network, Sue Burrell and Corene Kendrick drafted a Protocol for Competence in California Juvenile Justice Proceedings.

Protocol for Competence in California Juvenile Justice Proceedings