Latino Lawyer, Advocate Awarded Prestigious Prize for Work in Juvenile Justice
On Wednesday night, Frankie Guzman, an attorney, advocate, and mentor, will be one of three recipients of the prestigious Leadership Award from the Juvenile Law Center (link is external).
Guzman is currently a juvenile justice attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. Throughout his career, he has worked in the state of California to end mandatory life without parole for juveniles, ensure protection of Miranda rights for minors ages 15 and below, and introduction and eventual passage of a ballot initiative which abolished direct file procedures for youth, a loophole which allowed minors to be prosecuted as adults without a judge’s input.
“He has a life story that really informs and motivates the work that he does, and I think informs and motivates all of us that work with him,” Mangold said, adding that Guzman's work aligns with that of the Juvenile Law Center on "bringing developmental science into the courtroom, and into policy to influence and inform how stakeholders craft policy and craft legal decisions for adolescents."
