The effect of decentralization of Juvenile Correctional Institutions
Ms. Brooks has 4 years of experience practicing family and criminal law in Atlanta, Georgia.
Upon relocating to Northern Virginia, she became Director of Court Services for the Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. She was fortunate to serve in this position for 28 years. This entailed Supervision of the juvenile probation and parole unit and intake for legal petitions for child custody and support, paternity, child abuse and neglect and domestic violence. The department operated a 24 hour on-call with the police department for juvenile arrest. Appointed by Governor Wilder, she served two terms on the Virginia Juvenile Justice Advisory Board. She supervised the Local and Regional Gang Prevention and Intervention Program and served as a liaison to the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force. She also established a girls mentoring program and the Coordinator of that program received multiple awards on behalf of the department. The department provided multiple programs such as community service, restitution, psychological assessments and counseling and so on. She created the first community-based probation officer program in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the program was replicated in both the adult and juvenile justice systems in Virginia and in the District of Columbia. In 2009, She was awarded the National Outstanding Court Service Administrator award from the Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Association in Reno, NV.
Ms. Brooks is serving her third term as the Alexandria appointed Commissioner on the Juvenile Detention Commission which acts as a quasi-governmental regional commission that operates the Northern Virginia juvenile detention center. She has been a consultant for various states across the country focusing on improving juvenile justice systems and cross-collaboration of youth serving agencies.
Ms. Brooks is an editorial board member for the Forensic Science and Criminology Journal located in the United Kingdom.
Examination of Trauma Informed Substance Abuse Treatment
Decentralization of Correctional Facilities - Does it better prepare for re-entry of juveniles?
Numerous federal grants for juvenile programming
Criminal Law
Juvenile Delinquency
Ethics
Family Law and the Justice System
Queens College - BA in Social Psychology
Atlanta Law School - JD Law
George Mason University - graduate coursework in Public Policy
Adolescent Issues and the Justice System
Mediation to Circuit Court Judges
Representing Juveniles - Va. Public Defenders Assoc.
Developing Successful Girl's Mentoring Programs.
Community-based juvenile probation officers
Domestic Violence Laws and Procedure
Ethics in Criminal Justice
Liability Claims of Probation Officers
Collaboration and confidentiality of youth serving agencies
Various articles in the Alexandria Gazette-Packet
Article and quotes in the Washington Post
Expert citation in alexandrianews.org and Alexandria Times