Interview: Christina Powers SF Public Defender Juvenile Division

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Field Study Research Interview: Christina Powers SF Public defender Juvenile Division As I went out and conducted concrete evidence of the juvenile justice system. I was able to talk to a San Francisco Public Defender that works at the Juvenile Division Center. Christina Powers, describes the mission of the Public Defender office is “supposed to be rehabilitating. They really try to work within the system that the individual operates in. That means working with the family, and school.” She also mentions that they work from a “Holistic model of Defense, in which they try address all the needs of the child and not just their offense.” Instead, they dig deeper into the reasons behind the offense and how they are able to help them. The Juvenile Division is filled with a team of advocates specifically for their children in order to address their needs in school. They also have social workers, and court advocates that represent on their behalf in order to provide assistance for the child. If a student is having problems within the school, Powers says they work “collaboratively” with the school and the student in order to address any critical issues: violence within the school, Individual Education Plan (IEP), Probation, family therapy, “also by working with the needs of the family and not just the needs of the child is very important”. Ms. Powers recognizes the underlying factors that leads to delinquency in juveniles may be due to …show more content…

Gentrification was one issue that she mentioned which resulted in a lot of these families moved out towards the East Bay which has caused the numbers to decrease in SF. I then asked if there was an increase in the East Bay rates of juveniles being incarcerated. However, she wasn't sure of the exact numbers but she expected them to be stable or increased. But, nowhere near the decrease she seen in