Children and Family Justice Center
The Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC), a comprehensive clinical children's law program, promotes justice for children, adolescents and their families through legal representation, policy advocacy and law reform. As part of Northwestern University School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic, CFJC faculty, staff, and students work with young people and families in matters relating to delinquency and crime, the collateral consequences of criminal convictions, school discipline, immigration/asylum, and fair sentencing practices. The CFJC also collaborates with community members, government entities and other advocacy organizations to develop fair and effective strategies for systems reform.
Founded in 1992, the Children and Family Justice Center has developed into one of the most effective and diverse clinical programs of its kind. Attorneys, a social worker, and affiliated professionals help second- and third-year law students meet with clients and research legal issues. Students learn pretrial investigation, interviewing, counseling, and negotiation skills, as well as trial and post-trial litigation skills. Social work students from local masters' level programs are placed at the CFJC and assist the lawyers and law students with interviewing clients, accessing community based services and transitioning youth from incarceration to home.
"Our goal is to represent each young person as if she were our own child," says CFJC director Julie Biehl. "These are young people who have, in some cases, made mistakes. The question is what is our responsibility as a society to these youth? We believe it is our job to help them become productive citizens. The Children and Family Justice Center provides students with a unique opportunity both to advocate on behalf of indigent children and gain practical experience as a lawyer. We teach students about adolescent development and trauma so they may better understand and advocate on behalf of their clients. They represent individual youth in juvenile court learning how to tell the unique story of each child compellingly and persuasively. It is the combination of working on individual cases and advocating for policy reform that makes the work of the CFJC especially meaningful to clients and students."
The CFJC has represented hundreds of children in criminal, juvenile, and immigration courts, in both state and federal courts, as well as at parole and clemency hearings throughout Illinois. The CFJC seeks to expand the use of community justice alternatives, to reduce the incarceration of young people, and to address the disproportionate criminalization of children of color. The Center aims to improve stakeholders' understanding of the impact that concepts such as adolescent brain development and trauma have on young people in conflict with the law, as well as the role their families play in resolving their legal problems. Recently, the CFJC initiated a post-sentencing advocacy project, which seeks to address the needs of children transitioning back into the community after incarceration.
Through its policy projects, the CFJC conducts and disseminates research on a variety of topics relating to the needs of children in conflict with the law. Most recently, the CFJC has participated in a comprehensive review of the juvenile parole system and has undertaken studies regarding the collateral consequences suffered by court-involved youth including, among other issues, placement on public sex offender or violent offender databases and loss of opportunities for record expungement.
The CFJC works at the grass roots level, collaborating with neighborhoods, law enforcement, youth-serving organizations, and children's rights groups to advocate for reform and to empower youth and their families. It has worked with a diverse array of community partners to achieve shared goals such as keeping children out of the juvenile justice system whenever possible, and ensuring greater protections during interrogation, court proceedings and incarceration for those children who do become court-involved. CFJC faculty and staff also develop and teach educational programs that prepare adolescents to understand and utilize their rights and responsibilities under the law.
Further, the CFJC has partnered with national and local organizations to abolish the juvenile death penalty; challenge excessive sentences for youth, including the sentence of life without the possibility of parole; champion the use of reliable evidence; promote fairness and equity; and reduce reliance on incarceration pre and post-trial.
