Calling for a massive overhaul of the nation's approach to exposure to violence, the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence has issued what United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. describes as "a wake-up call and warning bell for all of us."

The Task Force held four public hearings (Baltimore, Albuquerque, Miami, and Detroit) and three "listening sessions" (Anchorage, Oakland, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord outside Tacoma, Washington) during which members heard personal testimony from survivors of violence, young people, social service providers, medical personnel, researchers, and advocates, among others. 

The Task Force's report, "Defending Childhood: Protect, Health, Thrive," finds that exposure to violence is a national crisis that affects approximately two out of every three children in the U.S.   The task force, co-chaired by Robert Listenbee, Jr., Chief of the Juvenile Unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and Joe Torre, Chairman of the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation and Major League Baseball's Executive Vice President for Baseball Operation, makes 56 recommendations divided into six areas: ending the epidemic of children exposed to violence, identifying children exposed to violence, treatment and healing of exposure to violence, creating safe and nurturing homes, community involvement, and "rethinking our juvenile justice system."  

Learn more about the Attorney General's national task force.

Dr. Thomas Scalea presenting during "Panel One: Setting the Stage" (Photo courtesy of the University of Baltimore)

It is well known that violent adults often have a history of childhood psychological trauma. Some of these individuals exhibit very real, physical alterations in a part of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex. A landmark study published by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, a major science and technology university in Switzerland, demonstrates for the first time a correlation between psychological trauma in pre-adolescent rats and neurological changes similar to those found in violent humans.

"This research shows that people exposed to trauma in childhood don't only suffer psychologically, but their brain also gets altered," explains Professor Carmen Sandi, Director of the Brain Mind Institute in Lausanne and a lead researcher in the study. "This...obviously has scientific, therapeutic, and social implications."

Continue on to learn more about the 5th annual Urban Child Symposium focused on child trauma.

A landmark report published by the Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Access to Justice Commission finds that civil legal services significantly boost the state's economy by bringing in millions of federal dollars, improving the lives of low-income citizens, and saving Maryland millions in expenditures.

The report, "Economic Impact of Civil Legal Services in Maryland," calculates that non-profit civil legal services programs generate $190 million per year in economic activity, cost savings, and increased productivity.  According to Pamela Ortiz, Executive Director of the Maryland Access to Justice Commission, which produced the report, the state's civil legal services providers have a significant impact on the state's economy.  "In advocating for their clients, legal services lawyers help their clients receive millions of dollars in benefits they would otherwise never receive.  Their efforts bring millions of dollars in additional federal aid into the State.  They also help their clients win millions of dollars in additional resources which they spend on goods and services in Maryland.  By helping their clients thrive, they also save the State money in expenditures associated with homelessness, domestic violence and other social costs of poverty."

Read more to learn about the legal services programs that receive state funding through the Maryland Legal Services Corporation