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ECI Hosts Successful 7th Annual Honorable Craig Washington and Honorable Excellence in Indigent Defense CLE

On Friday, March 9, 2018, ECI and Thurgood Marshall School of Law in collaboration with the Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Criminal Defense Lawyers Project hosted the 7th Annual Honorable Craig Washington and Honorable Rodney Ellis Excellence in Indigent Defense Series CLE. The annual CLE, named after the Honorable Craig Washington and Commissioner Rodney Ellis, because of their instrumental and ongoing efforts in the fight for fair trials and effective representation for the indigent, was attended by over 100 attorneys, law students and members of the general public. Attendees enjoyed a day long program focused on training lawyers who serve indigent defendants, included remarks by both the Honorable Craig Washington and Commissioner Rodney Ellis as well as presentations on the following topics:

What You Need to Know to Challenge Juvenile Life Without Parole Sentences What You Need to Know About Harris County Bond Practices The Work of the Timothy Cole Commission Representation at the Police Station Advanced Forensics How to E-File, From A-Z Critical Law Changes of the 85th Legislative Session ECI to Host Leadership for ECI Executive Director Educational Equity Selected to Serve as Advisory Policy &Advocacy Summer Member of the Texas Judicial Fellow Council’s Juvenile Justice Committee Through a grant award made possible by the Rockwell Fund, ECI will host a ECI Executive Director, Sarah Guidry, was Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) selected to serve as an Advisory Member of Policy & Advocacy Summer Fellow during the Texas Judicial Council’s Juvenile Justice the summer of 2018. LEE is a nonpartisan, Committee. The Texas Judicial Council nonprofit leadership development (TJC) was created in 1929 by the 41st organization with the goal to end injustice of Legislature to continuously study and report educational inequity by inspiring and on the organization and practices of the supporting a diverse set of leaders with Texas Judicial Branch. TJC is the policy- classroom experience to engage civically making body for the state judiciary. and politically The highly competitive Policy & Advocacy Summer Fellowship connects The Council studies methods to simplify LEE members, who are Teach For America judicial procedures, expedite court business, corps members and alumni, with high- and better administer justice. It examines impact policy and advocacy leaders and the work accomplished by the courts and organizations focused on education, submits recommendations for improvement children, youth and communities for an of the system to the Legislature, the eight-week, full-time placement. Governor and the Supreme Court. The Council receives and considers input from Criminalization of in-school behaviors judges, public officials, members of the bar, continues to perpetuate the effects of the and citizens. school to prison pipeline on children of color in Texas. As part of ECI’s ongoing work to The Council’s Juvenile Justice Committee is reduce school criminalization of students, charged with considering best practices and this summer the ECI will be reviewing necessary reforms to the juvenile justice existing data to determine what policy system to improve the adjudication of proposals we might educate Texas delinquent conduct cases. The Juvenile lawmakers about that would reduce the Justice Committee is also charged with the disproportionate impact of school oversight of the study required by HB 1204 disciplinary actions. The LEE Fellow will be regarding the use of the terms child, minor, responsible for reviewing court statistical and juvenile in statute for fine-only offenses data and ISD police data, examining best and the adjudication of those offenses, practices around the country for including recommendation of any necessary decriminalizing in-school incidents, and reforms to improve the adjudication of those drafting a policy paper and legislation as offenses. well as preparing a high quality slide presentation to be used in the future when The Committee is chaired by TMSL Alumni, discussing the policy recommendations. the Honorable Valencia Nash. ECI Launches New Black Girls Initiative

ECI to Host End of A recently published report Semester Student by the Georgetown Law ECI Hosts Community Center on Poverty and Presentations Forum on the Inequality presented Preservation of the compelling data finding that ECI greatly values the work Black Family the adultrification” of Black of our students! On girls- the perception that Thursday, April 19, 2018, Black girls are less innocent On Thursday, March 22, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., ECI and more adult-like than 2018, ECI in collaboration will showcase the hard work with the Coalition for the their white peers- has of our students in the resulted in the disparate Preservation of the Black Thurgood Marshall School treatment of Black girls Family, Black Child of Law Dean’s Conference Development Institute, across public systems. This Room. phenomenon has resulted in TMSL Black Law Students Association and the PVAMU the disparate treatment and Student presentations will overrepresentation of Black Texas Juvenile Crime include an overview of the girls in education, School Prevention Center hosted a various research, writing community forum entitled Discipline and low STEM and clinical projects that participation, the juvenile Foster Care to Prison they have been a part of for justice system (including Pipeline: A Call to Action. the spring semester. The forum addressed, status offenses), Human sex trafficking, violence, trauma through presentations and Each semester ECI hires & harassment, single dialogue, the issues faced several students to assist as by Black families who parenting & early student attorneys in the ECI pregnancy, homelessness become involved in the child Juvenile Justice Project, the (in particular LGBTQ), and welfare system and the Opal Mitchell Lee Property need to support kinship child welfare. Preservation Project, and To address the issue of placements. the TMSL Innocence significant bias against Black Project. In these clinical girls that results in the above Associate Dean Stephanie programs, students assist inequities ECI has launched Ledesma discussed the with actual cases racial genocide that has the ECI Black Girls Initiative participating in all aspects of (BGI). ECI’s BGI is a resulted from removal of litigation from the initial research and advocacy Black children from their intake and client interview, families and the need to project that examines the to investigation, to document slate of issues that increase efforts to stop this preparation, discovery and disproportionately impact phenomena. More than 50 trial. attendees joined us to hear black girls through a race- gender equity lens using a from experts and to express ECI also trains students in three point approach that your concerns and legal research and writing. recommendations for includes direct legal This semester topics representation, community change. included the "Foster Care to education and policy Prison Pipeline", and a advocacy. ECI is currently review of the Texas beginning a campaign to Mandate to videotape f i n d Black Women interrogations. Inspiring our Girls. Stay tuned for more to learn more about ECI’s Black Girls Initiative!

Earl Carl Institute for Legal & Social Policy, Inc. 3100 Cleburne St. Houston, Texas 77004 713.313.1139

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