Judge Maria Hernandez, left, and Professor Elizabeth Cauffman received awards for their Young Adult Court.
Orangewood Foundation awards dynamic duo
Elizabeth Cauffman, UC Irvine professor of psychological science, and Orange County Superior Court Judge Maria Hernandez have been honored with Orangewood Foundation awards for creating the Young Adult Court, which has helped dozens of young men turn their lives around.
Cauffman received the William G. Steiner Heart of Service Award and Hernandez received the General William Lyon Crystal Vision Award.
The Heart of Service Award is given to someone, Orangewood officials said, who “embodies exceptional leadership and deep commitment to Orangewood Foundation and the broader community. As a professor in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine, her work goes beyond the classroom, touching lives and reshaping justice approaches within our community, as an instrumental part in launching the Young Adult Court Program."
The Crystal Vision Award went to Hernandez, who is a UCI alumna (1986, B.A. social ecology) because she “is a pioneer in our community making an impact to help young men transform their lives and build better futures,” Orangewood officials note. “Her creation of the Young Adult Court program, an alternative to the traditional criminal justice system was an innovative program that has greatly impacted our Orange County community. This award is given to someone who is a visionary in their field, and Judge Hernandez is that and more, as a great partner to Orangewood Foundation.”
Young Adult Court is YAC is a collaborative court for felony offenders between the ages of 18 and 25, also known as the transition age youth, or TAY, population. Launched in Orange County in 2018, it is one of few such courts in the country.
It was created through the efforts of Judge Hernandez; Professor Cauffman; Cauffman’s former postdoctoral student Zachary Rowan, who now is a faculty member at Simon Fraser University in Canada; the Orange County Probation Department; the Orange County Public Defender and Defense Bar; Orange County District Attorney’s Office; and the Orangewood Foundation.
One of the most consequential incentives of participating in Young Adult Court is the reduction of a felony charge to a misdemeanor or the complete dismissal of the felony charge when participants graduate from the program.
The program, which can take about 18 months, consists of developing a “youth action plan,” which lays out all the steps participants must complete such as attending all court hearings, meeting with probation officers and case managers, getting substance and/or alcohol abuse treatment, mental health counseling and employment and education advice and following through. The goal is to address and prevent criminal behavior in the future.
Orangewood Foundation case managers along with probation officers follow each participant’s progress and provide resources and guidance so that they can move through the four phases of the program and “graduate.”
The program has graduated 35 young men to date..
On receiving her award, Cauffman said she was honored “because I get to collaborate with amazing people and see the science in motion.”