Martin Luther King III Keynote Speaker at Las Vegas Conference to End Juvenile Injustice

Palm Beach, Florida, December 2, 2003 - Under Our Wings" is sponsoring a conference titled A Global Approach to End Juvenile Injustice." This conference will feature speakers who are experts in various aspects of Americas juvenile justice system, as well Martin Luther King III. Together they will develop a pragmatic approach on how to end the injustices currently in the juvenile system. The conference will be held December 8-10, 2003 at Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Palm Beach, Florida, December 2, 2003 - Under Our Wings" is sponsoring a conference titled A Global Approach to End Juvenile Injustice." This conference will feature speakers who are experts in various aspects of Americas juvenile justice system, as well Martin Luther King III. Together they will develop a pragmatic approach on how to end the injustices currently in the juvenile system. The conference will be held December 8-10, 2003 at Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The number of juveniles (aged 13-17) in adult facilities has increased by 35% from 1994 through 1997 and a growing number of juveniles are found on death row. These alarming trends and more will be addressed during the conference by covering high-profile cases such as, Nathaniel Brazill, Daniel Carter, Alex and Derek King, Eulalia Miguel, David Maggi, John Lee Malvo, Joshua Phillips, Evan Ramsey, Lionel Tate and Charles Andy Williams.

Under Our Wings has secured an elite group of child rights advocates from such fields as psychology, religion, sociology, social work and law who will lead the interactive sessions. The list of speakers include:

§   Brooks Brown, Author, No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine.Sharon Wilson Potter, Attorney for Derek King, who was 13 years old when thirteen-year old who was charged as an adult for the murder of his father. He entered a plea to third-degree murder and was sentenced to eight years.

§         Richard Rosenbaum, Attorney for Lionel Tate, who was 12 years old when charged as an adult for the murder of his six year old playmate. He received a life sentence without parole.

§         Marc Shiner, Attorney and former prosecutor for Palm Beach County, FL.

§   Dr. Fred Baughman, a neurologist from San Diego who advocates against forcing the use of medication on children who are diagnosed as learning disabled.

§   Jerry Boswell, Director, Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Texas.

§   Dr. Caroline Kyhl, Professor at Texas Lutheran University. Develops programs for "at-risk" students and can prove that "Effective education is crime prevention."

§   Tonya McClary, Criminal defense/civil rights lawyer and activist.

§   Ajamu Baraka, Regional Director of Amnesty International USA Southern Regional Office.

§   Tony Blass, Filmmaker, of the soon-to-be-released feature-length documentary, Revoked Childhood, a finalist for the Roy W. Dean 2003 LA Film Grant.

§   Judge Reginald Richardson (former circuit judge--Dade County, Miami, Florida).

§   Richard P. Burton, Sr., 15-year President of the Allentown Branch NAACP.

§   Richard Rosenbaum, Attorney for Lionel Tate, who was 12 years old when charged as an adult (in Florida) and later on received a life sentence without parole.

§   Dr. Cynthia Price Cohen, Executive Director of ChildRights International.

§   Stephen K. Harper, Attorney coordinating the Juvenile Death Penalty Initiative.

§   Kathryn Medico, Author, nominated for Florida Outstanding Teacher of the Year, 2002.

§   Professor Irvin Waller, Criminology Department, University of Ottawa.

§   Bishop Thomas Masters, Founder and President of Under Our Wings and spiritual adviser to Nathaniel Brazill, Jr.      

The conference will establish a platform position on how these sensitive child-based issues should be handled and determine resolutions for reform in regards to the prosecution of children as adults.

About Under Our Wings
Under Our Wings is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the prosecution and adjudication of children as adults and to eradicating the juvenile death penalty in the United States. The goal of the organization is to inform, empower, and inspire others to get involved in the effort to bring about these changes -- always keeping in mind that the child offenders must be treated as the children that they are rather than as the adults that they are not.

For additional information, please visit www.underourwings.org.
###