Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor talks to students in the Summer Law and Trial Institute.
Two Ohio University programs have been awarded grants by the Ohio State Bar Foundation.
Dr. Ursula Castellano, Associate Professor of Sociology, was awarded a grant from the Ohio State Bar Foundation to finish a video project on Veterans Treatment Courts.
Larry Hayman, Pre-Law Advisor and Specialist for the Center for Law, Justice & Culture, was awarded a grant for the center’s Summer Law & Trial Institute.
Summer Law & Trial Institute Is Free to Participants
The CLJC’s Summer Law & Trial Institute for 2017 is a program that seeks to increase understanding of law among high school students. The program, which will run in July 2017, was developed by Hayman ’03, who is also an Ohio University alum, earning a B.A. in Political Science from the College of Arts & Sciences.
“This year, we are hoping to increase the geographical footprint of the program as well as incorporate a service component,” said Hayman, who is also the program director for the institute.
This high school program is the first of its kind to directly address sociological and economic concerns within Appalachian Ohio, raising awareness about issues such as access to justice and natural resources within the region. Within the program, students are able to:
- Connect with judges and attorneys in the area as well as other professionals within the legal realm
- Engage in rigorous academic coursework on law and the American legal system
- Learn via field trips and on-site courtroom observation
Students are able to attend the two-week program for free as a result, in part, of the Ohio State Bar Foundation grant.
Grant Funds Veterans Treatment Courts Project
In addition to receiving funding for the Summer Law & Trial Institute, Castellano was awarded a grant by the Ohio State Bar Foundation for her photo and video project with Veterans Treatment Courts participants.
Modeled after drug and mental health courts, these courts offer treatment in lieu of incarceration to men and women who served in the U.S. armed services.
The scope of the project is twofold:
- A 10-minute promotional video on Veterans Treatment Courts for members of the legal and veteran communities. The content will introduce viewers to the courts in Ohio, how they work and why these courts are effective alternatives to incarceration.
- A 15-minute public education video on Veterans Treatment Courts participants.
This video will focus on veterans’ personal stories, why they become involved in the justice system and their experiences with court-mandated treatment.
Combined, these videos offer enormous potential to positively affect the lives of justice-involved veterans and will provide court and treatment professionals with essential programmatic resources. They will be widely disseminated for public use.
“The men’s experiences in the criminal justice system were the initial focal point of the camera’s lens, but the collection of still images told a much larger story about their lives before, during, and after their military tour of duty. The pictures and the interviews revealed that the words Veteran, Warrior and POW were part of their lived experiences in and out of the armed services,” Castellano says.
The Ohio State Bar Foundation, according to its website, seeks to advance “the philanthropic interest of Ohio’s Lawyers to recognize excellence, improve the justice system and enhance public understanding of the law throughout Ohio.” The Grants Program exists within the bar association in order to further their mission.
To apply for the Ohio State Bar Foundation grant, applicants created a proposal detailing an organizational background, a project description and budget, a organizational budgets and any supplemental documents.
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