By: Katie Davis, Truancy Court Program Attorney What does it take to turn around urban youth who are on a path marked by violence and crime? According to Greland Lowrey, a gang specialist who works with youth in Baltimore city, for young people to turn away from criminal behavior, it requires “confidence, support and diligence.”…
By Bryan Upshur, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 On one fateful day in Florida a man named Clarence Earl Gideon broke into a pool room with the intent to commit a misdemeanor.[1] This action constituted a felony in the state of Florida, and the man was charged with the crime. After being arrested, Gideon requested the…
By Samantha Sammartano, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 The Truancy Court Program (TCP) is a wonderful initiative created and implemented by the University of Baltimore School of Law Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC). The TCP seeks to address the reasons why students miss school, amounting to thousands of school…
By Tammy Vaughn, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 In the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children, and the Courts Student Fellows Program class, we have learned about a variety of problem solving courts in Maryland. One recent creation are drug treatment courts, which in Maryland began under former Chief Judge Robert M. Bell’s administration.…
By Kevin Lauerman, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 This semester I have graciously served as a Student Fellow for the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center For Children, Families, and the Courts. Throughout my involvement with this program, I have had the pleasure of interacting with enthusiastic Baltimore City students, classmates that share a similar passion for…
By Maria Iliadis, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 On September 17, 2014, the Center for Families, Children and the Courts (“CFCC”) Student Fellows visited the Family Division of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City located at 111 North Calvert Street in Baltimore. We received a tour from T. Sue German, the Family Division Administrator. The tour…
By Lauren Wood, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 Truancy is a dilemma frequently facing school systems. A violation of compulsory attendance requirements can, in the worst case, lead to significant punitive consequences for a family. What happens, however, when the student exhibiting truant tendencies is a special education student? What kind of special obligations, if any, does…
By David Hornstein, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 The links among poverty, school attendance rates, and delinquency are all intertwined and, when viewed as such, depict a terrifying truth. In America, over 16 million students live below the poverty line, creating a set of circumstances and problems that a large percentage of the population does not…
By Makayla Hanington, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 Drug treatment courts are a source of therapeutic jurisprudence as problem-solving courts. Their purpose is to resolve underlying issues that may be the source of crimes that are being committed with a holistic and big-picture approach. In Baltimore City, the Drug Treatment Court was created in 1994 due…