Clinical Professor
and Director of the Children's Justice
Clinic. Professor Simkins is the author of 16 professional articles related to
juvenile justice issues; and her book, When Kids Get Arrested, What Every Adult Should Know, was
released in 2009. In 2008, she was selected by the MacArthur Foundation to
participate in the Models for Change
Juvenile Indigent Defense Action Network. Prior to joining the Rutgers faculty
in 2006, she spent 15 years working at the Defender Association of Philadelphia,
where she was the assistant chief of the juvenile unit. Professor Simkins is also the codirector of the Northeast Region Juvenile Defender Center, a subsidiary of the
National Juvenile Defender Center, where she provides consultation and training
to child advocates in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. She has
championed the creation of effective statewide coalitions and led fundraising
initiatives for program development. Her various fundraising efforts have
created a specialized mental health and special education attorney, and a statewide
training program for juvenile defenders in the state of Pennsylvania. In 2002,
she was the recipient of the American Bar Association's Award for "Outstanding Representation of Children." Professor Simkins is a national trainer on the issue of girls
in the juvenile justice system and is involved in conditions of confinement
reform. She has also taught the criminal defense clinic at the University of
Pennsylvania Law School and juvenile law at the Temple University Beasley School of
Law.
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