The Southern Juvenile Defender Center is one of nine regional centers created by the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) to enhance the juvenile defense bar’s capacity to provide high quality representation. The Southern Juvenile Defender Center:

* offers technical assistance and advice to juvenile defenders
* facilitates networking opportunities for juvenile defenders
* conducts state and regional trainings
* connects families with court-involved children to juvenile defenders in their area
* provides litigation support to defenders in particularly complex or high impact cases
* compiles state-specific advocacy manuals for juvenile defenders
* publishes studies on juvenile justice policy issues that affect children in the southern region
* gathers and analyzes juvenile indigent defense data

The Southern Juvenile Defender Center offers regional trainings on representing juveniles in delinquency and CHINS cases in Alabama several times per year.

In 2008, the Alabama Juvenile Justice Act became law. The Act gives Alabama’s juvenile defenders important new tools. It explains in detail the duties of a juvenile defender and puts new restrictions on when children can be placed in secure custody. The Guide available at the website listed below highlights the key new portions of the law with explanatory footnotes.

Website: http://www.juveniledefender.org/alabama