Patricia . Puritz
National Juvenile Defender Center
Patricia Puritz, Esq., has worked as a child advocate in the juvenile justice system for over 35 years and currently serves as the executive director of the National Juvenile Defender Center - an organization devoted to ensuring excellence in juvenile defense and promoting access to justice for children. Prior to that, she was the director of the American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center since 1985. She has been involved in designing, implementing, managing and monitoring programs to reform the nation's juvenile justice system, with a particular focus on delivering effective legal services to children and improving the conditions under which children are confined. For the last 15 years she has placed particular emphasis on devising strategies to ensure that children have adequate access to competent counsel throughout the duration of the court process. The National Juvenile Defender Center was created to serve as a clearinghouse and resource center for lawyers that defend children and it delivers a range of training, technical assistance, leadership and capacity-building activities designed to improve juvenile indigent defense systems nationwide. Ms. Puritz was appointed to a 4-year term on Virginia's Board of Juvenile Justice by former Governor Mark Warner in 2003, and re-appointed by Governor Tim Kaine in 2007; she co-chaired the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Juvenile Justice Committee, and also served on many boards of directors and advisory committees including the Gideon Project of the Open Society Institute, the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, the Guidelines Implementation Committee of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Juvenile Regional Services and the DC Exchange -- a nonprofit organization that advocates for youth in the justice system in Washington, D.C. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers named her the 2004 Champion of Indigent Defense; she was the 2006 recipient of the American Bar Association's Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award; and, she received the 2007 Public Service Award from the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review of Harvard Law School. Ms. Puritz has played a significant role in advising and assisting the Department of Justice with matters related to strengthening and enhancing the nation's juvenile indigent defense systems.
(04/13)
