Attorney General Eric Holder's Task Force On Children Exposed To Violence Holds Final Hearing In Detroit

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Department of Justice Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade and Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary Lou Leary will deliver opening remarks at the final public hearing of Attorney General Eric Holder's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence in Detroit on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. The task force is part of the Attorney General's Defending Childhood Initiative to prevent and reduce children's exposure to violence. The task force will present policy recommendations in a report to Attorney General Holder later this year.

On Monday, April 23, the task force will hear public testimony from professionals and Detroit community members, including Detroit Tigers pitcher Phil Coke.

On Tuesday, April 24, Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee will discuss his department's work with Detroit youth to prevent violence. He will be joined by Lawnya Sherrod, a former Detroit gang member turned community organizer, who will share her experiences from both sides of the youth violence challenge.

More information on the task force is available at www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood.

WHAT: Public hearing of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence

WHERE:  Wayne State University
David Adamany Undergraduate Library
Bernath Auditorium
5155 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI

PUBLIC TESTIMONY:  MONDAY, April 23, 2012
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT              

SPEAKING PROGRAM: TUESDAY, April 24, 2012
8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. EDT

AGENDA: http://www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/detroit-hearing-public-agenda.pdf.

VIEW ONLINE: To watch the Tuesday hearing online, register here.

Monday, April 23, 2012

5:00 p.m. EDT Public Testimony
The task force will hear from professionals and Detroit community members including Detroit Tigers pitcher Phil Coke and Executive Director of the Michigan Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention and Treatment Board Debi Cain.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

8:30 a.m. EDT Acting Associate Attorney General West will discuss a new Justice Department research bulletin examining how authorities learn about child victimization. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary and Acting Administrator for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Melodee Hanes will also deliver opening remarks.

8:45 a.m. Task force co-chairs Joe Torre and Robert Listenbee, Jr. will provide opening comments and introduce the task force members.

8:55 a.m.  Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee and former gang member turned community organizer Lawnya Sherrod will discuss their work to prevent youth violence in Detroit as part of the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention.

9:15 a.m.  Interviews will be facilitated at this break.

9:30 a.m.  New York City Probation Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, Director of Wayne County Child and Family Services Tadarial Sturdivant, Drexel University's Dr. Sandra Bloom, and Executive Director of the National Compadres Network Hector Sanchez-Flores will highlight successful programs to rehabilitate youth offenders, provide family support services and use trauma-informed approaches to serve youth.

10:45 a.m. President and CEO of California Institutes of Preventive Medicine Dr. Vincent Felitti, University of Texas criminology professor Dr. Alex Piquero, and Dean Neil Guterman of the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration will discuss the powerful relationship between emotional experiences of children and their physical and mental health as adults, as well as the benefits of investing in prevention, early identification, and intervention activities.

1:00 p.m. Director of the NoVo Foundation's Initiatives for Girls and Women Pamela Shifman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey Family Programs Dr. William Bell, and President of The Skillman Foundation Carol Goss will discuss the role of public-private partnerships in addressing the epidemic of children's exposure to violence (CEV) as well as system changes that would strengthen the abilities of these partnerships to prevent and address CEV.

2:30 p.m. Founder and Executive Director of Prevention Institute Larry Cohen, U.S. Department of Education's Norris Dickard, and Deputy Director of PolicyLink Mary Lee will discuss the urgent need to focus on changing social norms and systems response to violence.

4:00 p.m. Members of the Chicago Area Program, which engages inner-city teens to reduce their involvement in gangs, will discuss their involvement in the program.

5:00 p.m. Task force co-chairs Joe Torre and Robert Listenbee, Jr. will provide closing remarks.

7:05 p.m. In honor of the task force's final hearing in Detroit, task force co-chair Joe Torre, Major League Baseball Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game. 

SOURCE Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs