When young people are facing transfer to adult court, Rachel believes storytelling is a key to good advocacy. Too often, all judges know about a youth is what they allegedly did, and attorneys need to lift up who the child really is to demonstrate why prosecution in adult court is so inappropriate. Information about the child’s developmental status, home life, school experience, health, and family system will help judges see them in a more holistic way and challenge the assumption that they are unredeemable. Finding ways to incorporate the youth’s own voice in that process is critical as well.
Advocacy in waiver cases, and juvenile court generally, can be emotionally draining and incredibly challenging, but Rachel keeps doing it because of how important the work is. Just like her father, who was a public librarian, she values being of service to young people in her community, and her excellent work led to her being recognized as the Public Defender of the Year in Iowa. She believes there’s “no such thing as other people’s children” and that we all have a shared responsibility to serve the young people in our communities. She sees examples of adults stepping up for kids in juvenile court every day, and that is what inspires her to keep going.
Rachel’s advice to new lawyers or law students interested in youth advocacy is to have confidence in your value as an advocate in spite of your inexperience. New lawyers sometimes ask the best questions about why the juvenile justice system works (or does not work) the way it does, and more experienced lawyers can sometimes miss opportunities for good advocacy because they are stuck in stale ideas about what good advocacy should look like. Juvenile justice is a field that calls out for creative approaches to advocacy, and it provides an opportunity for a very fulfilling career.