Juvenile defenders and advocates have an obligation to look both externally and internally to combat systemic racial injustice by acknowledging and dismantling their own racial biases, as well as the biases of their colleagues. Everyone has biases, even those who engage in career-long opposition to systemic oppression and state coercion. Research shows that even when individuals stand firmly against racism and are ideologically opposed to explicit bias, they may subconsciously allow these factors to affect their representation.

In this session, juvenile defenders and advocates will work to understand implicit bias and how it impacts their clients throughout the juvenile legal system. Participants will pay special attention to how implicit bias impacts their own work on behalf of youth and will learn how to raise awareness about racial disproportionality and implicit bias within the system. 

Participants will:

• Become familiar with significant research studies exposing the pervasive nature of implicit bias;
• Understand how implicit bias impacts the trajectory of a delinquency case; and
• Recognize their own biases and learn to counter them.

This training is available to all juvenile defense professionals, including juvenile defenders, policy advocates, investigators, social workers, mitigation specialists, paralegals, clerks, legal secretaries, and other staff members in support of this work.