Associate Circuit Judge Barbara K. Peebles was among 50 juvenile judges nationwide who attended a first-of-its-kind training institute this month in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The new training institute was sponsored by the Council of State Governments (CSG) and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). One of the institute’s primary goals is to provide consistent and specialized training for juvenile judges who often make some of the most important decisions about at-risk youth in difficult delinquency cases.

Judge Peebles is assigned to the St. Louis Family Court’s Juvenile Division.

According to the CSG, the training institute is designed for judicial officers who hear delinquency cases on a regular basis. The institute’s goal is to fill a training gap identified in a national study that showed judges in many states don’t receive consistent training and tools needed to make critical decisions.

The institute’s intensive four-day training session Sept. 25-28 featured nationally known experts in juvenile justice and focused on critical topics such as adolescent development, screening and assessment, youth and family engagement, mental health and substance abuse, judicial ethics, decision making and accountability.