Congratulations to colleague Andy Block on receiving the 2007 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year in Virginia. Mr. Block also recently testified at a crime summit on Capitol Hill that policies promoting the transfer of youth to the adult criminal justice system are harmful and counterproductive. The crime summit was hosted by Virginia Congressman Robert (Bobby) Scott who chairs the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Block was a speaker at VJJA’s 30th Fall Juvenile Justice Institute and in his role as Co-Chair of the Virginia Coalition for Juvenile Justice partnered with VJJA to successfully champion HB 3007 (changes to the transfer bill). Andy is the founder and Legal Director of JustChildren and a graduate of Yale and the Northwestern University School of Law. Before law school, he spent a year teaching in a rural Kenyan village and two years leading wilderness trips for young people in New Mexico’s juvenile justice and mental health systems.
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