Attorney General Eric Holder's Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence Holds Final Hearing in Detroit
White House, Justice Department, and Detroit officials underscore efforts to prevent violence
WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Department of Justice Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary Lou Leary and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett will deliver opening remarks at the final public hearing of Attorney General Eric Holder's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence in Detroit on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. The task force is part of the Attorney General's Defending Childhood Initiative to prevent and reduce children's exposure to violence. The task force will present policy recommendations in a report to Attorney General Holder later this year.
At the hearing, Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee will discuss his department's work with Detroit youth to prevent violence. He will be joined by Lawnya Sherrod, a former Detroit gang member turned community organizer who will share her experiences from both sides of the youth violence challenge. Acting Associate Attorney General West will also discuss a new Justice Department research bulletin Child and Youth Victimization Known to Police, School, and Medical Authorities examining how authorities learn about child victimization, including incidents of sexual abuse, gang assaults, kidnappings, dating violence and attempted and completed rape.
In honor of the task force's final hearing in Detroit, task force co-chair Joe Torre, Major League Baseball Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game, which takes place at 7:05 p.m. EDT on April 24, 2012.
More information on the task force is available at www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood.
WHAT: Public hearing of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence
WHERE: Wayne State University
David Adamany Undergraduate Library
Bernath Auditorium
5155 Gullen Mall
Detroit
PUBLIC TESTIMONY: MONDAY, April 23, 2012
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT
SPEAKING PROGRAM: TUESDAY, April 24, 2012
8:15 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. EDT
AGENDA: http://www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/detroit-hearing-public-agenda.pdf
Monday, April 23, 2012
5:00 p.m. EDT Public Testimony
The task force will hear from professionals and Detroit community members.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
8:15 a.m. EDT Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary will provide opening remarks.
8:30 a.m. Task force co-chairs Joe Torre and Robert Listenbee, Jr. will provide opening comments and introduce the task force members.
8:40 a.m. Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls Valerie Jarrett will deliver the keynote address.
9:10 a.m. Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee and former gang member turned community organizer Lawnya Sherrod will discuss their work to prevent youth violence in Detroit as part of the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention.
9:30 a.m. Interviews will be facilitated at this break.
9:45 a.m. New York City Probation Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, Director of Wayne County Child and Family Services Tadarial Sturdivant, Drexel University's Dr. Sandra Bloom, and Executive Director of the National Compadres Network Hector Sanchez-Flores will highlight successful programs to rehabilitate youth offenders, provide family support services and use trauma-informed approaches to serve youth.
11:00 a.m. President and CEO of California Institutes of Preventive Medicine Dr. Vincent Felitti and University of Texas criminology professor Dr. Alex Piquero will discuss the powerful relationship between emotional experiences of children and their physical and mental health as adults, as well as the benefits of investing in prevention, early identification and intervention activities.
1:15 p.m. Director of the NoVo Foundation's Initiatives for Girls and Women Pamela Shifman and President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey Family Programs Dr. William Bell will discuss the role of public-private partnerships in addressing the epidemic of children's exposure to violence (CEV) as well as system changes that would strengthen the abilities of these partnerships to prevent and address CEV.
2:45 p.m. Founder and Executive Director of Prevention Institute Larry Cohen, U.S. Department of Education's Norris Dickard and Deputy Director of PolicyLink Mary Lee will discuss the urgent need to focus on changing social norms and systems response to violence.
4:15 p.m. Members of Chicago's South Shore Drill Team, which engages inner-city teens in the performing arts to reduce their involvement in gangs, will discuss their involvement in the program.
5:15 p.m. Task force co-chairs Joe Torre and Robert Listenbee, Jr. will provide closing remarks.
SOURCE Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs
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