Law Commons^™

Virginia Renews Its Faith In Second Chances, The Honorable Jerrauld C. Jones, Julie E. Mcconnell

Law Faculty Publications

"On January 1, 1995, in the early morning hours, 17-year-old A.M. committed a crime in Virginia that would change his life forever. Tragically, he and two co-defendants took a man’s life. He will live the rest of his life regretting that day and working to become a better person. Something else significant happened on January 1, 1995˗˗Virginia’s legislation to abolish discretionary parole went into effect. (See Va. Code §53.1-165.1) If he had committed the crime one day earlier, A.M. would have been eligible for parole years ago. Under the new law, however, any person sentenced to a term of incarceration …

30 Tips For Excellence In Juvenile Defense, Julie Ellen Mcconnell

Law Faculty Publications

This article for the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers newsletter provides advice on representing juvenile clients.

Improper Delegation Of Judicial Authority In Child Custody Cases: Finally Overturned, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

"The appellate courts of this Commonwealth are not unlit rooms where attorneys may wander blindly about, hoping to stumble upon a reversible error."

These words of Judge Humphreys, denying a 2016 child custody appeal, are cogent. Yet four months later, in another appeal, Judge Humphreys joined a unanimous decision overturning a common provision in a custody order. In Bonhotel v. Watts, the Court of Appeals of Virginia held that judges cannot delegate judicial decision making power in child custody cases to outside professionals. This sounds obvious, but such delegation is actually ordered all the time. In final orders, Virginia's trial …

Making Juvenile Justice More Humane And Effective, Julie Ellen Mcconnell

Law Faculty Publications

Long commutes, high costs and too much time away from family are among the most common frustration for workers in Virginia. But while those annoyances may be tolerable when it comes to our daily commutes, they have become an unfortunate feature of Virginia’s youth justice system, which confines hundreds of youth in large institutions far from their homes.

When young people have regular visits with their family and other members of the community, they have a much higher chance of being rehabilitated and successfully returning to those communities. Currently, many incarcerated youth in Virginia are held far from their families, …

Every Adolescent Deserves A Parent, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

This article argues that all adolescents, indeed all human beings, deserve at least one parent—one person who takes the good with the bad because that person’s life is intertwined with the child’s. The child matters to the parent in a way that a friend, nephew, or foster child may not. Child welfare professionals must never lose sight of this principle when they recruit, train, and maintain parents for adolescents. The parent can be someone who is already in the young person’s life or someone who has been unable to parent in the past, but is now ready to secure that …

Spoliation In Child Welfare: Perspectives And Solutions, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

Author examines spoliation in child welfare litigation and provides ideas for preserving evidence and improvement record-keeping.

Five Devastating Collateral Consequences Of Juvenile Delinquency Adjudications You Should Know Before You Represent A Child, Julie Ellen Mcconnell

Law Faculty Publications

The original purpose of the juvenile court was to create a forum, separate from the adult courts, in which children could be given the opportunity for rehabilitation and treatment. Society placed an emphasis on correcting misbehavior and minimizing disruptions in the transition to adulthood for young people and wanted to spare them the stigma of being branded as “criminals.” In 1967, the Court established in In re Gault that juveniles, even though they were in a different system, were still entitled to the basic safeguards that an adult would be granted in the courtroom.

For most of the existence of …

Save The Children: The Legal Abandonment Of American Youth In The Workplace, Seymour Moskowitz

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Clients Aging Out Of Care, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

Youth aging out of foster care face an arduous road. Lawyers for foster youth must help to assure their safe and stable exit from the system and a comfortable transition into the next stage of their lives. Lawyers cannot rely on social service agencies and caseworkers to handle the myriad of issues that youth encounter, and many require court orders or other legal measures.

The Ethical Perils Of Representing The Juvenile Defendant Who May Be Incompetent, Adrienne E. Volenik

Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines questions likely to arise with respect to these interests when an attorney suspects his or her juvenile client may be incompetent. Part I reviews the doctrine of adjudicative competence in the context of adult criminal proceedings. Part II summarizes the newly evolved application of the doctrine in juvenile court. Part III examines the ethical, legal, and practical considerations that arise when a lawyer has concerns about whether a juvenile client possesses the competence needed to participate appropriately in juvenile court proceedings.

The Right To Treatment, Adrienne E. Volenik

Law Faculty Publications

This article seeks to. trace the development of the right to treatment in the juvenile justice system from its origins to the present. This exposition does not represent an in-depth analysis of the concept. Instead it seeks to acquaint the reader with how the right has been interpreted as being applicable to various phases of the juvenile system. This is accomplished through a summary of individual cases.

The author does not intend to posit her views on the future role the right to treatment will play in the juvenile justice system or the influence that it will have on decision …

Article V Returns Under The Interstate Compact On Juveniles, Adrienne Volenik

Law Faculty Publications

The Interstate Compact on Juveniles provides the means by which a juvenile escapee or absconder can be returned to his state of origin with only a minimum of difficulty. Article V of the compact, which covers this situation, provides that the person or authority from whose probation or parole supervision a delinquent youth has absconded or from whose institutional custody he has escaped can make a written request for his return to the appropriate court or executive authority of the state where the youth is allegedly located.

Juvenile Court And Arrest Records, Adrienne Volenik

Law Faculty Publications

Recognizing the near impossibility of changing societal views toward juvenile offenders, many legislators have at- tempted instead to combat the harmful effects of a delinquency adjudication by providing for concealment of juvenile records, on the grounds that such concealment will aid the child's reintegration into society.

Expungement Of Arrest Records, Adrienne Volenik

Law Faculty Publications

Contrary to the philosophy of the juvenile court, it is undoubtedly a rare occasion when a child benefits from his exposure to the juvenile court system. Even when a child is actually rehabilitated by the process, the invidious effects that flow from being labeled a "juvenile delinquent" may serve to negate any benefit that he may have received. Perhaps the most unjustifiable of all side effects is the stigma that attaches to a child who has been arrested and subsequently either released without prosecution or acquitted. In a society that espouses the idea that an individual is innocent until proven …

Notice In Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings, Adrienne Volenik

Law Faculty Publications

Despite these suggestions, the problem of what constitutes adequate notice continues to plague juvenile courts. Furthermore, by suggesting two criminal and two civil cases as examples, the Court added the issue of whether a civil or a criminal standard for notice should be applied. Courts that have addressed this issue have reached different conclusions.