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Age Is Not Just A Number: Problems With Florida’S Statutory Minimum Age For Juvenile Delinquency And Why It Must Be Increased, Natalie Brooks

FIU Law Review

Under a Florida law enacted in 2021, any child over the age of six years old can be arrested and subjected to juvenile delinquency proceedings. Florida, as well as the United States in general, is an outlier when it comes to statutory minimum ages for juvenile delinquency. The most common and recommended minimum age internationally is fourteen years old, and many studies show that arresting, charging, and adjudicating children below the age of fourteen is counterproductive, as it leads to increased recidivism, potentially violates due process, and leaves lasting negative effects on children. This comment will discuss juvenile delinquency in …

“Black First, Children Second”: Why Juvenile Life Without Parole Violates The Equal Protection Clause, Avery W. Katz

Faculty Scholarship

The United States is the only country in the world that allows imposition of juvenile life without parole (LWOP) sentences. This sentencing scheme was born out of the 1990’s “tough on crime” era, when society held the belief that juvenile offenders were “super-predators” and should face adult time for adult crimes. Throughout the years, the Supreme Court has faced numerous cases regarding juvenile LWOP, leading to its 2021 Jones v. Mississippi decision, holding that juveniles may be sentenced to LWOP so long as “youthful qualities,” such as immaturity, recklessness, susceptibility to negative influence, are first considered in sentencing. Today, the …

Decriminalizing Childhood, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Even though the number of juveniles arrested, tried and detained has recently declined, there are still a large number of delinquency cases, children under supervision by state officials, and children living in state facilities for youth and adults. Additionally, any positive developments in juvenile justice have not been evenly experienced by all youth. Juveniles living in urban areas are more likely to have their cases formally processed in the juvenile justice system rather than informally resolved. Further, the reach of the justice system has a particularly disparate effect on minority youth who tend to live in heavily-policed urban areas.

The …

Against Professing: Practicing Critical Criminal Procedure, Mae Quinn

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Juvenile Competency Adjudication In California Criminal Court, Michael W. Hanley

Michael W Hanley

Legal issues are examined vis-à-vis an empirical case study of a criminal judicial proceeding where an alleged juvenile offender was charged with serious crimes in an adult court venue. The issue litigated before a 12-member jury was not the substantive merits of guilt or innocence of the alleged criminal conduct, but whether the juvenile offender was statutorily and constitutionally competent to stand trial. The following is a succinct account of the procedural and substantive constitutional and statutory rules attributed to legal competency to stand trial and how they were recognized and applied in the government’s case against an alleged juvenile …

Calling Children To Account: The Proposal For A Juvenile Chamber In The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Diane Marie Amann

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Sweet Childish Days": Using Developmental Psychology Research In Evaluating The Admissibility Of Out-Of-Court Statements By Young Children, Lynn Mclain

All Faculty Scholarship

A three-year-old child, while being bathed by her babysitter, innocently mentions that her “pee-pee” hurts. When the babysitter asks the child how she hurt it, she says, “Uncle Ernie (her mother’s boyfriend) told me not to tell.” A subsequent medical examination reveals that the child has gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease.

By the time of trial, the child is four and-a-half-years old. When questioned by the trial judge, she cannot explain to the judge’s satisfaction, “the difference between the truth and a lie.” Moreover, she has no long term memory of the incident. The judge rules the child incompetent to …

From Playpens To Prisons: What The Gang Violence And Juvenile Crime Prevention Act Of 1998 Does To California's Juvenile Justice System And Reasons To Repeal It, Sara Raymond

Golden Gate University Law Review

This comment will explore the most significant changes that the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act (GVJCPA) made to California's juvenile justice system. It will also discuss and propose alternative methods to curb juvenile crime. Part II will examine the juvenile justice system, including the context in which it was created, and juvenile crime across the country. It will then discuss how courts, legislatures, and local governments have confronted the changing nature of juvenile crime, focusing on efforts in California. Part II will also include an introduction to the GVJCPA. Part III will discuss the most important changes that …

Culture Clash: The Challenge Of Lawyering Across Difference In Juvenile Court, Tamar R. Birckhead

Tamar R Birckhead

In analyzing the causes of wrongful convictions of youth in juvenile court, the role of the defense attorney can be overlooked and its importance underestimated. Although juvenile defenders are trained to advocate based on their young client‟s expressed interest rather than relying on what they deem to be in the child‟s best interest, this basic tenet is often more challenging to follow than is commonly acknowledged. The norms of effective criminal defense practice—which emphasize rigorous oral and written advocacy with little mention of whether the client has learned a lesson from the experience—stand in direct contrast to the informal culture …

Toward A Theory Of Procedural Justice For Juveniles, Tamar R. Birckhead

Tamar R Birckhead

Courts and legislatures have long been reluctant to make use of the data, findings, and recommendations generated by other disciplines when determining questions of legal procedure affecting juveniles, particularly when the research has been produced by social scientists. However, given the United States Supreme Court’s recent invocation of developmental psychology in Roper v. Simmons, which invalidated the juvenile death penalty, there is reason to believe that such resistance is waning. In 2005 the Simmons Court found, inter alia, that based on research on adolescent development, juveniles are not as culpable as adults and, therefore, cannot be classified among the “worst …

What’S Wrong With Victims’ Rights In Juvenile Court?: Retributive V. Rehabilitative Systems Of Justice, Kristin N. Henning

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

While scholars have written extensively about the victims’ rights movement in capital and criminal cases, there has been very little discussion about the intersection of victims’ rights and the juvenile justice system. Statutes that allow victims to attend juvenile hearings and present oral and written impact statements have shifted the juvenile court’s priorities and altered the way judges think about young offenders. While judges were once primarily concerned with the best interests of the delinquent child, victims’ rights legislation now requires juvenile courts to balance the rehabilitative needs of the child with other competing interests such as accountability to the …