The Southern Juvenile Defender Center is one of nine regional centers created by the National Juvenile Defender Center (
NJDC) to enhance the juvenile defense bar's capacity to provide high quality representation. The Southern Juvenile Defender Center:
- offers technical assistance and advice to juvenile defenders
- facilitates networking opportunities for juvenile defenders
- conducts state and regional trainings
- connects families with court-involved children to juvenile defenders in their area
- provides litigation support to defenders in particularly complex or high impact cases
- compiles state-specific advocacy manuals for juvenile defenders
- publishes studies on juvenile justice policy issues that affect children in the southern region
- gathers and analyzes juvenile indigent defense data