Board adopts resolution endorsing UN Convention language and adds youth due-process clause after split vote

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on March 31 adopted a resolution endorsing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and approved an additional clause declaring a city policy on due process for juveniles after a separate, divided vote.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin (reading as an example) introduced the resolution; public defenders, juvenile-justice advocates and community members urged immediate action on due process for youth in sanctuary-city interactions. Public Defender Jeff Adachi told the board that his office had represented 49 undocumented youth since August 2008 and that roughly one-third of juvenile cases handled during a sampled month were dismissed: "Approximately a third of the cases are dismissed," Adachi told the board, citing March statistics in which the public defender's office recorded 65 cases and 22 dismissals.

The board first considered a motion to continue the item for a week to obtain…