Law School Scholarship to Promote National Youth Justice Awareness Month Created by the Tiftickjian Law Firm, P.C.
Denver, Colorado (PRWEB) October 29, 2014 -- October is National Youth Justice Awareness Month, a national event to bring awareness to the consequences of children being processed in adult court and place in adult jails and prisons. The Tiftickjian Law Firm, P.C., has established a scholarship to assist law students interested in careers in juvenile justice. One applicant will be selected to receive the $1,000 scholarship. The recipient will be announced on August 15, 2015.
Former Colorado Deputy District Attorney, Jay Tiftickjian, announced the scholarship. Tiftickjian stated, “Our firm is committed to improving juvenile justice. We have discovered that nothing matters more in the early life of a youth charged with a crime than lawyers, legal professionals, and judges who are committed to defending the rights of the youth.”
Tiftickjian is a member of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, and an advocate for juvenile justice system reform. He went on to say, “Our law firm is offering the Juvenile Justice Scholarship to encourage and assist law students interested in this area of the law. Hopefully the recipient will go on to make a difference to a youth in the system. We also want to raise awareness to the issue of prison sentences and reduced rights for minors. Studies show, these factors often place youths on an institutionalized path towards spending a large part of their lives in the criminal justice system. We can do better.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigations tracks criminal activity on a yearly basis. They consider anyone under the age of 18 to be a juvenile. Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 13,120,947 juvenile arrests (except traffic violation) in FBI’s most recent study. Of these arrests, 552,077 were for violent crimes and 1,643,962 were for property crimes. The highest number of arrests were for drug abuse violations (estimated at 1,638,846 arrests), driving under the influence (estimated at 1,412,223), and larceny-theft (estimated at 1,271,410).
According to The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, each year juvenile courts in the United States handle an estimated 1.7 million cases in which a youth is charged with a delinquency offense. On average, this results in a case load of approximately 4,600 delinquency cases per day. The National Institute of Justice has found that up to 60% of juvenile offenders will later become involved with the adult criminal justice system.
Experts agree that early positive intervention is the key to reducing the number of juvenile offenders who graduate to the adult system. The Campaign for Youth and Justice has undertaken a broad study of incarcerated youth. Their statistically findings demonstrate that incarcerating youthful offenders in most cases only leads to further criminal activity both as a juvenile and then as an adult. Groups such as the Campaign for Youth and Justice have put pressure on policy makers to re-evaluate the juvenile justice system and find better alternatives.
Applicants for the scholarship must complete an essay describing how they think the juvenile justice system could be improved to rehabilitate juveniles and keep them out of the criminal justice system. Law students interested in more information or applying for the law school scholarship can download the application form from the firm’s website.
Resources For Media Professionals:
National Institute of Justice at http://www.nij.gov/
The Campaign for Youth and Justice at http://www.campaignforyouthjustice.org/
Juvenile Justice Scholarship Information and Application: http://www.criminallawdenver.com/juvenile-justice-law-school-scholarship/
Tracee Loftus, Tiftickjian Law Firm, P.C., http://www.criminallawdenver.com, +1 3123502933, [email protected]
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