Social justice lecture to focus on indigent criminal defense

Saint Martin’s University hosts director of the Office of Assigned Counsel

November 8, 2007

Lacey, Washington — Saint Martin’s University will host the second lecture of the 2007-08 Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series on Friday, Nov. 16, at 4:00 p.m. in the Norman Worthington Conference Center. Sally Harrison, Director of the Thurston County Office of Assigned Counsel, will speak on indigent criminal defense. Admission to the lecture is free and open to the public.

Harrison has been an attorney for 30 years. A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, she began her career as an attorney for prisoners at Washington’s maximum security prison in Walla Walla. In 1991, she was hired by Thurston County as the director of a new county agency — the Office of Assigned Counsel. The office provides criminal defense representation to indigent people in Superior Court, District Court and Juvenile Court, and provides representation for mentally ill offenders in civil hearings and in Mental Health Court. Under Harrison’s direction, the Office of Assigned Counsel is currently establishing an in-house program for parents’ representation in dependency and termination cases at Family and Juvenile Court.

Harrison is past president of the Thurston County Bar Association. She helped lead the development of the Thurston County Drug Court program and remains an active supporter of that program. Harrison also participates on committees that impact the criminal justice system in Thurston County and manages grants provided by Washington State.

The Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series was created by Dr. Robert Hauhart, associate professor of criminal justice at Saint Martin’s University, to raise awareness of social justice issues within the community and to honor the work of Dr. Harvie, former professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at Saint Martin’s.

Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, Catholic, coeducational university located on a 320-acre wooded campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 21 majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes 1,250 students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its main campus, and 650 more to its five extension campuses located at Fort Lewis Army Post, McChord Air Force Base, Olympic College, Centralia College and Tacoma Community College.

For additional information:

Robert Hauhart, Ph.D., J.D.
Associate professor/chair, Department of Criminal Justice
360-438-4525
rhauhart@stmartin.edu

Keri Graham
Humanities & Social Sciences Divisions
360-438-4564
kgraham@stmartin.edu