Law Commons^™

Unstable Homes Exacerbated By Unstable Courts: How Ohio's Split-Child-Custody Jurisdiction Harms Ohio's Children And Families, Philip Shipman

Et Cetera

Raising a child is very difficult. Add to the difficulty in raising a child the specter of a child custody suit, and you have a recipe that can end in disaster.

In Ohio, child custody is not fair. It is not just. It is determined by judges, whose jurisdiction is determined by whether the child’s parents were married to each other. Under this jurisdictional scheme, Ohio’s children are failed. This failure stems from Ohio courts making their own rules without care to fairness and equality. Within most of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties, juvenile and domestic relations courts can, and do, set …

Due Process Junior: Competent (Enough) For The Court, Tigan Woolson

Journal of Law and Health

There are many reports presenting expert policy recommendations, and a substantial volume of research supporting them, that detail what should shape and guide statutes for juvenile competency to stand trial. Ohio has adopted provisions consistent with some of these recommendations, which is better protection than relying on case law and the adult statutes, as some states have done. However, the Ohio statute should be considered a work in progress.

Since appeals courts are unlikely to provide meaningful review for the substance of a juvenile competency determination, the need for procedures for ensuring that the determination is initially made in a …

Innocent Until Proven Arrested: How Pretrial Juvenile Detention For Nonviolent Offenders In Ohio Inflicts Constitutional Violations, Taryn Schoenfeld

Et Cetera

When a juvenile is accused of committing a crime in Ohio, juvenile court judges must determine whether to detain the child pretrial in a juvenile jail or permit the child to go home to await trial. Whereas alleged adult offenders have the right to pay a monetary bond to be released from jail pretrial, juveniles have no such right. Thus, once a judge makes the decision to detain a juvenile pretrial—prior to being adjudicated delinquent of any crime—it is difficult for that decision to be undone. While incarcerated, juveniles suffer irreversible psychological, emotional, mental, and social harms, despite juvenile courts …

Capital Punishment Of Young Adults In Light Of Evolving Standards Of Science And Decency: Why Ohio Should Raise The Minimum Age For Death Penalty Eligibility To Twenty-Five (25), Talia Stewart

Cleveland State Law Review

Up until the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling in Roper v. Simmons, juveniles could constitutionally be executed for qualifying criminal offenses. The Roper Court raised the minimum age for execution to eighteen, citing both a national consensus against executing minors, as well as recent research (at the time) showing that juveniles are more vulnerable to negative influences and outside pressures. Since Roper, the Supreme Court has remained silent regarding the requisite minimum age for execution and has left the decision up to individual states. While a slim majority of states have now abolished the death penalty in its entirety, …

Juvenile Life Without Parole: How The Supreme Court Of Ohio Should Interpret Montgomery V. Louisiana, Grace O. Hurley

Cleveland State Law Review

Regardless of the numerous differences between juveniles and adults, some states, including the State of Ohio, continue to impose upon juvenile homicide offenders one of the harshest forms of punishment: life without parole. In 2016, the United States Supreme Court decided Montgomery v. Louisiana, and in doing so, the Court reiterated its previous contention that a sentence of juvenile life without parole should only be imposed upon juvenile homicide offenders whose crimes reflect "irreparable corruption." The Supreme Court of Ohio has yet to apply the Court’s Montgomery decision, but this Note suggests that if it does, the court should …

Puffing Away Parental Rights: A Survey And Analysis Of Whether Secondhand Smoke Exposure Is Child Abuse, Karly Huml

Journal of Law and Health

The steps taken thus far to protect children in public areas, custody cases, and in vehicles show the legislature's awareness of the chemical harms of secondhand smoke for children. This article will analyze those steps and discuss what they mean for both parents' and children's constitutional rights. This article proposes that the legislature take a vital fourth step by including secondhand smoke exposure in child abuse laws. Section II of this article provides the history of smoking tobacco and its transition from a trendy social status to an unpopular, harmful habit. Section II also introduces the steps that have been …

Pushing The Limits: Reining In Ohio's Residency Restrictions For Sex Offenders, Taurean J. Shattuck

Cleveland State Law Review

The danger to children posed by convicted sex offenders living near schools, parks, and bus stops has been greatly exaggerated by the media. In turn, many state legislatures have attempted to find solutions to this perceived problem, imposing sanctions that seem to keep the "problem" at bay. A relatively new approach prevents those convicted of sex crimes from living within a certain distance of places where children congregate. Ohio is one of the states that has adopted this approach. The problem with this approach, however, is that imposing such restrictions on all individuals convicted of certain crimes imposes barriers to …

An Assessment Of Risk Factors For Early Death Among A Sample Of Previously Incarcerated Youth, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare, Miyuki Fukushima Tedor, Linda M. Quinn, Christopher A. Mallett

Social Work Faculty Publications

Most previous research regarding early death prior to, or during, young adulthood among previously detained delinquent youth has focused predominantly on males or on their cause of death. This study extends previous research by evaluating potential factors that are associated with early death in a random sample (N = 999) of formerly detained youthful offenders in New York stratified by gender (50% female). Existing case records were referenced with the National Death Index to determine if the formerly detained youth were deceased by the time they would have reached age 28. Regression analyses were run to determine if any of …

From Death To Near-Death: The Fate Of Serious Youthful Offenders After Roper V. Simmons, Christopher A. Mallett

Social Work Faculty Publications

The United States juvenile death penalty was abolished in 2005 when the Supreme Court, in Roper v. Simmons, found this punishment to be cruel and unusual and in violation of the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.1 This decision was the final step in ending the death sentence for those under the age of eighteen. While this sentence is no longer an option for retributively-inclined states, many serious youthful offenders continue to meet similar, and in some ways, comparably difficult fates. These fates include the wholesale transfer of serious youthful offenders to the criminal courts2 and the subsequent incarceration of tens of …

Can I See Some Id? Banning Access To Cosmetic Breast Implant Surgery For Minors Under Eighteen , Katherine Cohen Cooper

Journal of Law and Health

In many situations it is perfectly reasonable, and in fact preferable, to allow parents to consent to medical interventions on the behalf of their minor children. Parents enjoy a constitutional liberty interest in directing the upbringing of their children; it is presumed that parents will act in the best interests of their children when they substitute their experiences and judgment for a child’s in making important life decisions.8 This article highlights, however, that when it comes to providing consent for their children to undergo medically unnecessary breast implant surgery, the rationales underlying the presumption of deference to parents and medical …

Juvenile Life Without The Possibility Of Parole: Constitutional But Complicated, Christopher A. Mallett

Social Work Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court's recent decision in Miller v. Alabama found that juvenile life without the possibility of parole sentences for homicide crimes was unconstitutional if mandated by state law. Thus, allowing this sentence only after an individualized decision determines the sanction proportional given the circumstances of the offense and mitigating factors. This decision, for a number of reasons, does not go far enough in protecting those youthful offenders afflicted with maltreatment victimizations, mental health problems, and/or learning disabilities - all potential links for some adolescents to serious offending and potentially homicide. While the Supreme Court has not protected these youthful …

Juvenile Pirates: "Lost Boys" Or Violent Criminals?, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has flourished over the past decade, and has both caused a global crisis in maritime shipping and destabilized regional security in East Africa. In addition, piracy attacks have spread more recently to the coast of West Africa, and in particular, the Gulf of Guinea. Thus, piracy is an ongoing global issue that should continue to occupy many maritime nations in the near future, and one that should command continuous scholarly attention.

This article examines the issue of juvenile piracy, with a specific focus on the treatment of juvenile piracy suspects by both the capturing …

Proving Medical Child Abuse: The Time Is Now For Ohio To Focus On The Victim And Not The Abuser, Tiffany S. Allison

Journal of Law and Health

Part I of this Note will discuss the history of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy and how the medical community is trying to make the general public aware of medical child abuse. Part II provides a history of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy and medical child abuse. It also highlights the differences in how litigation was previously handled under the nomenclature of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy and how litigation should be handled in the future under the nomenclature of medical child abuse. Part III identifies Ohio's current statutes and federal legislation that have an effect on child abuse. Part III also identifies …

Bullies In A Wired World: The Impact Of Cyberspace Victimization On Adolescent Mental Health And The Need For Cyberbullying Legislation In Ohio, Kelly A. Albin

Journal of Law and Health

This Note examines cyberbullying's impact on adolescents' mental health and psychological development and explores an Ohio-specific legislative response to the problem. Part II addresses the urgent need for cyberbullying legislation, the inadequacy of Ohio law, and the detrimental effects that may result when juveniles are targeted by cyberbullies. Part III demonstrates how other states have reacted to the cyberbullying problem by amending already enacted bullying statutes or by creating new and specific cyberbullying laws. Part IV proposes a new cyberbullying statute that criminalizes the more extreme cases of cyberbullying, incorporates age as a sentencing factor, and introduces school-employee liability for …

Reforming The Safe Haven In Ohio: Protecting The Rights Of Mothers Through Anonymity, Brittany Neal

Journal of Law and Health

This Note discusses the conflict between the statewide safe haven law and the Ohio juvenile rules regarding procedure. It purports that to protect the rights of new mothers and retain the essential element of anonymity, Ohio’s Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to be amended to maintain the state’s current safe haven law. Therefore, because of the statewide threat Ohio courts place on Ohio’s safe haven law, Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to explicitly provide for an additional exception in cases of child relinquishment. Section II of this Note discusses the beginning of state safe haven legislation and what the laws are attempting …

Association Between Mental Health Disorders And Juveniles' Detention For A Personal Crime, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare, Christopher A. Mallett, Craig Boitel

Social Work Faculty Publications

Background: Youth involved with juvenile courts often suffer from mental health difficulties and disorders, and these mental health disorders have often been a factor leading to the youth’s delinquent behaviours and activities.

Method: The present study of a sample population (N= 341), randomly drawn from one urban US county’s juvenile court delinquent population, investigated which specific mental health disorders predicted detention for committing a personal crime.

Results: Youth with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder diagnoses were significantly less likely to commit personal crimes and experience subsequent detention, while youth with bipolar diagnoses were significantly more likely.

Conclusion: Co-ordinated youth …

Explicating Correlates Of Juvenile Offender Detention Length: The Impact Of Race, Mental Health Difficulties, Maltreatment, Offense Type, And Court Dispositions, Christopher A. Mallett, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare, Mamadou M. Seck

Social Work Faculty Publications

Detention and confinement are widely acknowledged juvenile justice system problems which require further research to understand the explanations for these outcomes. Existing juvenile court, mental health, and child welfare histories were used to explicate factors which predict detention length in this random sample of 342 youth from one large, urban Midwestern county in the United States. Data from this sample revealed eight variables which predict detention length. Legitimate predictors of longer detention length such as committing a personal crime or violating a court order were nearly as likely in this sample to predict detention length as other extra-legal predictors such …

Three Lies And A Truth: Adjudicating Maternity In Surrogacy Disputes, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Historically, courts were called on to answer the following question: What makes a man a legal father? Courts applied different presumptions to arrive at the answer. For example, if the case involved a married couple, the woman's husband was presumed to be the legal father.1 In situations involving an unmarried woman, the man who helped to conceive the child was the legal father. While paternity was being litigated, maternity was resolved-the woman who gave birth to the child was the child's legal mother. The phrase “momma's baby, papa's maybe” reflected society's attitude towards maternity. Since the woman who gave birth …

Dead Men Reproducing: Responding To The Existence Of Afterdeath Children, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The statutory mandates are a step in the right direction, but there is still work that needs to be done. The statutes should be amended to close certain loop holes and to ensure that the physician-facilitated suicide option is available to all of the patients who need it. Persons suffering from physical conditions that will lead to death within six months should not be the only persons permitted to exit gracefully. As long as the safeguards included in the statutes are followed, there is no good reason to prohibit persons suffering from irreversible and incurable physical diseases that lead to …

Two Fathers, One Dad: Allocating The Paternal Obligations Between The Men Involved In The Artificial Insemination Process, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Nadya Suleman used sperm from a man she knows to conceive fourteen children using assisted reproduction. It is clear that Suleman is the legal mother of the children. The unanswered question is: "Are the children legally fatherless?" The answer to this question is important because experts predict that it will take well over one million dollars to support the children until they reach the age of majority. My article seeks to provide some insight into the resolution of this issue. Although Suleman did not conceived using artificial insemination, the information examined in my article may be applied to her situation. …

Alternatives For Youth’S Advocacy Program:Reducing Minority Youth Incarceration Placements In Cleveland, Ohio, Christopher A. Mallett, Linda Julian

Social Work Faculty Publications

Detaining and incarcerating juvenile delinquents is ineffective and costly juvenile justice policy. These placements, indicative of the “tough on crime” approach, become problematic for many of these youths who do not have the advantage of legal counsel because they waive this right. In addition, a majority of these youths have a mental health or special education disability that does not get addressed in correctional facilities. Alternatives for Youth's Advocacy Program (AFY) in Cleveland, Ohio (Cuyahoga County) is addressing these issues using a holistic approach that includes the provision of civil legal representation to assist youths in accessing disability services and …

Death Is Not Different: The Transfer Of Juvenile Offenders To Adult Criminal Courts, Christopher A. Mallett

Social Work Faculty Publications

The US Supreme Court first reviewed a state's statutory procedure for juvenile transfer to adult criminal courts in Kent v. US 1 Morris Kent was a fourteen-year-old first convicted for purse snatching and house-breaking, placed on probation, and later charged at the age of sixteen with robbery and rape. 2 Kent was arrested, presumably admitted to involvement in these crimes after seven hours of interrogation, and placed in a receiving home for one week.

(E)Racing Youth: The Racialized Construction Of California's Proposition 21 And The Development Of Alternate Contestations, Nicholas Espiritu

Cleveland State Law Review

Illustrating the way in which conceptions of race and crime shape and are shaped by law is California's Proposition 21. Enacted in 2000, Proposition 21, also known as the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act," was the product of California's direct democratic process through which voters are able to change the California Constitution through a simple majority vote. Part II address the ideological foundations of direct democracy and examines critically its ability to serve a democratic function. I examine the founders' rationale behind the decision not to employ a representative form of government, and look at direct democracy in …

Theories Of Therapeutic Evolution For Juvenile Drug Courts In The Face Of The Onset Of The Co-Occurrence Of Mental Health Issues And Substance/Alcohol Abuse, David L. Harvey Iii

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this Note is to review two specific and newly emerging therapeutic courts: juvenile mental health courts and juvenile drug courts. It will explain how and why a mental health element should be implemented into the juvenile drug court system. Part II of this Note will give a historical and procedural overview of juvenile drug courts. These procedures will draw mainly from the newly formed Medina County Juvenile Drug Court, located in Medina, Ohio. Part III will explain the origination and procedures currently employed by juvenile mental health courts, as they relate specifically to Santa Clara's Court for …

Do Not Resuscitate Decision-Making: Ohio's Do Not Resuscitate Law Should Be Amended To Include A Mature Minor's Right To Initiate A Dnr Order, Allison Mantz

Journal of Law and Health

Part One discusses Ohio's current DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) law, which does not include an exception for mature minors. It explains the medical difference between initiating a valid DNR order and refusing life-sustaining medical treatment. However, the note solely focuses on DNR and how it relates to a minor's right to initiate his or her own DNR order in light of parental disagreement. Part two explains the evolution of the minor and healthcare. Specifically, the progression from the early common law assumption that minors lack the capacity to consent, to the present, in which minors are permitted to make some …

Book Review, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This is a review of Women and Jewish Law: The Essential Texts, Their History, and Their Relevance for Today by Rachel Biale (1995). It is a minor miracle. It is readable and free of unnecessary jargon, and accessible to the educated reader who has only some introduction to the nature of Jewish law (Halakhah). At the same time, it is serious and scholarly and would work very well as a text for a graduate seminar on Jewish law, women and law, or religion and law. The author celebrates the increasing power and visibility of women in all denominations of Judaism, …

The Effects Of Mediation In A Juvenile Incarceration Facility: Reduction Of Violence Through Transformation, Linda Morton, Floralynn Einesman

Cleveland State Law Review

The use of mediation techniques to resolve conflicts among American youth has grown in popularity over the past two decades; Conflict resolution programs have blossomed in school systems, but there has been a dearth of mediation programs for one of our most violent youth groups: incarcerated juveniles. In this article, we describe and analyze the effects and the potential success of our program through the data we have collected. Our article will first describe the objectives and content of our mediation program in Juvenile Hall in San Diego. Relying on sociological and psychological theory in our second section, we will …

Nurturing In The Service Of White Culture: Racial Subordination, Gestational Surrogacy, And The Ideology Of Motherhood, April L. Cherry

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

I approach the question of race, motherhood, and gestational surrogacy, by looking at courts' opinions in the case of Johnson v. Calvert and the racialized institution of motherhood. In the next section, I discuss motherhood as a social institution. I contrast some of the radical feminist critiques of motherhood, which recognize motherhood as institutionalized and compulsory, with Black feminist criticism, which understands motherhood as a site of power for African-American women. In Section III, I discuss the current popular understanding of the cultural and legal dictates of institutionalized motherhood from a historical perspective, focusing on the late eighteenth and early …

Biomedical And Behavioral Research On Juvenile Inmates: Uninformed Choices And Coerced Participation, Brian Paul Wyman

Journal of Law and Health

The question that will be addressed here is whether juvenile inmates can voluntarily give informed consent to participate in biomedical and behavioral research. Further, can juvenile inmates act voluntarily in the midst of coercion used by researchers to persuade the subjects to participate, and coercion that is inherent in the nature of being a juvenile inmate? Can consent be informed when a juvenile inmate's comprehension and understanding of what biomedical and behavioral research entails is limited by age and maturity level? Finally, even if juvenile inmates are deemed capable to give voluntary informed consent to biomedical and behavioral research, is …

Second-Parent Adoption, Patricia J. Falk

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The topic of this article is second-parent adoption. I hope to accomplish four things in my discussion. First, I will define second-parent adoption and give some reasons that it is desirable for both parents and children. Second, I will summarize the state of the law in terms of legislative enactments and case law in the United States. Third, I will discuss the role of social science in second-parent adoption cases. Finally, I will discuss some of the implications of recognizing second-parent adoptions.