Fain Appointed to State-Wide Taskforce

On August 31^st, Barry Fain, a Dandridge native and resident, was appointed by House Speaker Beth Harwell to a newly-created state-wide taskforce. The taskforce was created under Public Chapter No. 1057 of 2016, commonly cited as the “Juvenile Justice Realignment Act,” to study new approaches to the administration of juvenile justice in Tennessee, including the possibility of creating a standalone department of juvenile justice.

Mr. Fain’s name was placed into nomination with Speaker Beth Harwell to fill one of her five at-large public member appointments by Rep. Jeremy Faison and Rep. Andrew Farmer, based on his career of over twenty-six years working in the justice system. He has worked in both adult and juvenile secure institutions in four different states. He has most recently served in the local Jefferson County Juvenile Court, where he has worked with all nature of juvenile delinquency issues.

The following individuals will comprise the taskforce, in addition to Mr. Fain:

• Sen. Mark Norris
• Sen. Doug Overbey
• Rep. Karen Camper
• Rep. Mike Sparks
• Judge Dan Michael, Shelby County Juvenile Court
• Dr. Mark Lipsey, Peabody Research Institute of Vanderbilt University
• Dean Rivkin, Esq., University of Tennessee College of Law
• Darci Hoffman, TN Alliance for Children & Families Executive Director
• Jason Crews, Middle TN Juvenile Detention & Wayne Halfway House Executive Director
• Sutton Mora-Hayes, Community Foundation of Greater Memphis CFO
• Leslie Collum, Rutherford County ADA
• Keeda Haynes, Nashville Public Defenders Office APD
• Robert Hill, Shelby County Trustee’s Office Executive Director

“Mr. Fain will bring a unique perspective to the makeup of the taskforce, given his years of professional experience managing adult, juvenile, and youthful offender institutions in four states,” notes Rep. Andrew Farmer. “Mr. Fain’s near fifteen years of service at a rural juvenile court, especially being one that handles delinquent offenses originating from one of our state’s three hardware secure youth development centers, provides a particular frame of reference that should greatly benefit members in understanding how the taskforce’s work impacts different communities in our state and not just the large urban areas of Tennessee,” states Rep. Jeremy Faison.

The taskforce is currently scheduled to meet four times between September and December. Meetings are presently scheduled for September 12^th, October 10^th, November 3^rd, and December 1^st.  All meetings take place at 1:00pm (CT) and should be available for viewing on the Tennessee General Assembly’s website.  Taskforce members’ commissions will expire upon presentation of their findings to the General Assembly for consideration on January 15, 2017.