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Provides Testimony In

Gangs, Street Terrorism, Juvenile Homicide, Troubled Youth, School Safety, Juvenile Violence, Personal Injury, Youth Homicide, Weapons, Drugs, Assault, Gang Related Homicide, Gang Related Violence, California Street Terrorism Enforcement Prevention Act, STEP Act, Gang Retaliation, Student Assault, Child Development, Adolescent Development, Gang Awareness, Child Abuse Mandated Reporting, Wrongful Death, School Supervision, School Chaperone

Superior Court-Certified Expert

SCHOOL SAFETY: PERSONAL INJURY & CHILD WELFARE; CHILD ABUSE MANDATED REPORTING; IDEA & ADA: Students With Special Needs. Violence-prevention and education curriculum for grades 8 – 12.

  • American Bar Association is a member of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section and the ABA’s Litigation Section.
  • Federal Appointment on the Faculty of the United States Courts Office of Defender Services Training Branch.
  • Member on the Panel of Experts of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
  • School of Professional Psychology, is an Instructor of Mental Health Law; Forensic Psychology; Lifespan Development; Law and Social Psychology; and Social Bases of Behavior.

Served as Director of Child Welfare and Attendance for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, and as Director of the Norwalk Superior Court’s Truancy Court.

  • Served as a member of the Los Angeles County Interagency Council Against Child Abuse and Neglect (I.C.A.N.), and specifically on its Child Death Review Committee at the Los Angeles County Morgue.
  • Conducted research and taught at the MacLaren’s Children Center for abused, neglected and abandoned children, as part of his graduate work at USC.
  • Through the Los Angeles County Office of Education, was a Consultant-Trainer on “Child Abuse Mandated Reporting Requirements”, and trained the county’s 81 school districts with mandated-reporter training materials published and provided by the California Attorney General.
  • Founded and is editor of a public service internet website for child abuse reporting.
  • Was the keynote speaker at the annual St. Mary’s Medical Center’s Child Abuse Conference, held in Walla Walla, Washington, 2007.
  • Conducted research and interviews of children incarcerated in California state youth prisons whose backgrounds included being victims of child abuse.

Under Williams v. State of California, this expert is one of the California State Legislature-appointed Professional Team Leaders, went into public schools to ensure school administrator-compliance with the stipulations and terms (re school safety) of the massive and historic class action litigation affecting all schools in the state’s 58 counties.

  • Served on the Norwalk/Downey/Paramount Multi-Agency Task Consortium Against Gangs.
  • 2009 graduate of the Los Angeles Police Department’s “Community Policing Academy,” and was one of the valedictorians.
  • Invited keynote speaker, addressed the audience and media at the Columbine High School memorial ceremony in honor of the slain students and teacher victims.
  • During his four-year in-person/in-prison research on children who killed, this expert coined the term “adolescentcide” (the phenomenon of children killing children) used by the media following the Columbine High School and other campus tragedies.
  • Assisted the Los Angeles County Sheriff in developing the Helping Improve Police Practices (HIPP) guidebook.

Taught the law course, Administration of Justice: Juvenile Delinquency and Legal Procedures, at the El Camino Police Academy.

  • Member of the American Society of Trial Consultants.
  • Member of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice.
  • Member of the National Lawyers Guild.
  • Associate member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
  • As a Mandatory Certified Legal Education (MCLE) Trainer, conducts accredited seminars for lawyers.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Professor, School of Professional Psychology. Mental Health Law; Forensic Psychology; Life Span Development; and Professional Development. Doctoral (Psy.D. and Ph.D.) students qualifying for state licensure. August 31, 2009 to present.
  • Teacher, Los Padrinos Juvenile Court School, operated by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Taught high school-level subjects, per State Department of Education curriculum frameworks. Counseled gang members and other incarcerated juveniles on court etiquette, legal language, probation behavioral standards, administration of justice and juvenile delinquency; goals/visions/values; and legal, personal and social responsibility. Served as Los Angeles County’s “Dollars for Scholars” board member and fundraiser for scholarship awards to juvenile wards desiring to improve their lives. Served as the Los Angeles County Office of Education and Los Angeles County Probation Department liaison for the LEAPS (Life Excellerator Assessment of Personal Skills) Facilities-Wide Behavior Management Program. Served as vice chairperson of the Los Padrinos Shared Decision Making Council. Served as academic coach in the annual “Academic Bowl” fete. October 2005 to present.
  • While studying for CLAD (Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development) certification, and in a nod toward linguist Jim Cummins’ “cognitive academic language proficiency” theory of academic success, I coined the phrase, “symptomatically-compromised academic language deficiency” (SCALD), and wrote a paper describing this linguistic phenomenon and cause of school failure among LEP (Limited English Proficient) street gang members. Symptomatically-compromised language deficiency results from everything that is dysfunctional, unhealthy, and legally-encroaching in their lives: e.g., family members incarcerated, witnessing or engaging in violent gang acts, illegal drug use.
  • Gang Consultant and Media Expert.
  • Instructor, Master’s Degree Program, the University of Phoenix. Courses: Child and Adolescent Development and Teacher-training courses.
  • Instructor, Police Sciences Curriculum, El Camino Police Academy (operated by El Camino Community College), Torrance, CA. Course: Administration of Justice: Juvenile Delinquency and Legal Procedures. February 2002 to present.

Director, Pupil Personnel Services, Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District
(24,000 students – 31 schools.) and Director, Student Attendance Review Board (S.A.R.B.) No. 21, at the Norwalk Superior Court.

  • Prosecuted, for the L.A. County District Attorney, parents and children in violation of school attendance laws. Designed and co-conducted, with Sheriff Dept., “Stop-Crimes-on-Campus” programs: Drug-Dog Sniffing Program; Juvenile Citation-into-Court Program (for gang activity, graffiti-tagging, vandalism, fighting, alcohol possession, profanity, drug possession and use); and specialized gang diversion programs such as G.R.I.P., “Gang Reduction Intervention Program” and the “Gang Awareness Project” (G.A.P.), both of which were coordinated with local law enforcement. July 1999 – July 2000.
  • Consultant, Public School Law, L.A. County Office of Education. Advisor to 81 school districts on L. A. County, state laws pertaining to child welfare and school attendance, student violence, suspensions and expulsions, gang activity/violence and parents’ roles and responsibilities. Conducted countywide trainings each quarter on “Child Abuse Mandated Reporting: It’s Your Job!”, using mandated reporting guidelines and materials provided me by the California Attorney General. At request of retired Supervisor Deane Dana, I helped to write the L.A. County” Anti-Truancy Ordinance, No 96-0009,” a public law. September 1996 – June 1999.
  • Consultant, GAIN (Greater Avenues for Independence) Welfare-to-Work Program, L.A. County Office of Education. Supervised four Job Developers and 80 Job Search Specialists in the development of employer requirements, employment preparation, job market surveying, personal skills inventorying, job readiness, and personal responsibility courses; case follow-up and evaluation. September 1995 – September 1996.
  • Producer, Educational Television. Los Angeles County Office of Education. Produced focused programs: gang awareness and education; interviews with the State of CA Superintendent of Schools; curriculum series involving Institutes of Higher Education (IHE’s): USC, Claremont Graduate University, and UCLA; and a widely-acclaimed special program I conceived, produced and hosted following the 1992 Los Angeles riot January 1991 to September 1995.

EDUCATION

  • Earned his Ph.D. degree (focus: Curriculum) from the Claremont Graduate University and received the Phi Delta Kappa (Mt. Baldy Chapter) “Best Dissertation of the Year” award for his pioneering study of a spectrum of children—including gang members—incarcerated in state prisons for murder and homicide. His 4-year in-person/in-prison research of 103 girls and boys was the subject of his doctoral dissertation. (1993 – 1997.)
  • The University of Southern California, Teacher Corps Cycle VII. Two-year graduate studies program focused on Troubled Youth/Gangs. Studies included classes and programs at the Delinquency Prevention Institute. Los Angeles, CA. Master of Science in Education (MSEd) Degree: 1972-1974.
  • California State University at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA. B.A. Degree: 1965 -1972.

INVOLVEMENT WITH OTHERS

  • B.R.A.V.E. (Be Resilient Avoid Violence Everywhere). Field-tested (2001-2002, CA) by Downey Unified School District and the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Juvenile Court and Community Schools (JCCS). B.R.A.V.E. has been cited by the FBI/ATF Philadelphia Region as an example of “best community practices” for its violence education and prevention curriculum for grades 6 – 12.
  • Los Angeles County Anti-Truancy Ordinance (Public Law No. 96-0009, co-written in 1995, with other educators and lawyers, at request of then-County Supervisor Deane Dana).

Los Angeles County Master Plan for School Safety (1998; Co-Editor).

  • Advisor on the Los Angeles County Office of Education and California State Department of Education “Classroom Management Guide” (2000).
  • Advisor on the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors manual, “Helping Improve Police Practices” (H.I.P.P.). A guide on improving relationships between law enforcement and students, particularly student gang members.

HONORS, PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

  • “Certificate of Recognition” from the California State Legislature
  • Letter of gratitude and congratulations from President George W. Bush
  • The Neil Matsumora Scholarship, University of Southern California
  • The Phi Delta Kappa, Mt. Baldy Chapter, “Best (Doctoral) Dissertation of the Year” Award for four-year in-prison/in-person research on children who killed.
  • President-Elect of the California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance (CASCWA)
  • Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)
  • The California Teachers Association (CTA)
  • Member of the American Society of Trial Consultants
  • Member of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
  • Associate Member of the American Bar Association

CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS

  • Board member of G.O.O.D. (“Gangs Out of Downey”) Organization. Other G.O.O.D. members with whom I worked include Judge Roy Paul, Judge David Perkins, Judge A. Lord, and Judge Manuel Rodriguez.
  • Member of the Multi-Agency Task Force on Gangs, Norwalk, CA.
  • Rotary International District No. 1774

AFFILIATIONS WITH EXPERT WITNESS REFERRAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Round Table Law Group
• Technical Advisory Service for Attorneys (T.A.S.A.)
• Technical Assistance Bureau (T.A.B.)
• ExpertWitness.com
• eWitness.com
• California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
• Experts.com
• Forensics Group
• Expert Resources, Inc.
• National Expert Witness Network
• Summit Professional Resources
• Forensic Expert Advisors
• Consolidated Consultants Company
• The Chatham Group
• DJS Associates, Inc.

OTHER INFORMATION

Began studying the social phenomenon of troubled, and criminogenic youth while a graduate student (1972-1974) in the nationally-acclaimed Urban Teacher Corps VII program at the University of Southern California. His training at USC’s Delinquency Prevention Institute led to further gang education training by (1) the Department of Justice (at the L.A. County Office of Education and Inglewood USD “Gang Summit”); (2) the Norwalk Sheriff Department’s Multi-Agency Task Force on Gangs; (3) the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Youth Leadership Academy; (4) the Gang Awareness Project (GAP); (5) the Gang Risk Intervention Program (GRIP); (6) Juvenile Delinquency Summits conducted by California State Senator Betty Karnette (Long Beach); and (7) professional conferences across the nation hosted by law enforcement agencies and educators.

Is considered one of the nation’s foremost School Safety and Child Welfare experts. He is quoted by a range of publications. He spent 48 months inside California Youth Authority state youth prisons interviewing and studying 103 girls and boys, among them gang members, incarcerated for committing murder and homicide.

The only researcher in the country allowed to go inside prisons and behind bars to get the life stories of a spectrum of children who killed with a wide readership among school administrators, teachers, social workers, attorneys, law enforcement officers, districts attorney, probation officers, members of the clergy, psychologists, medical doctors, judges, colleges and universities, and students themselves. The book is used in colleges and universities nationwide. Coined the word “adolescentcide,” meaning children who kill other children. He has presented gang awareness and school safety programs for the California Attorney General, elected officials, law enforcement associations, and school administrators nationwide.


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