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A More Grown-Up Response To Ordinary Adolescent Behaviors: Repealing Pins Laws To Protect And Empower D.C. Youth, Mae C. Quinn, Tierra Copeland, Tatyana Hopkins, Mary Brody
A More Grown-Up Response To Ordinary Adolescent Behaviors: Repealing Pins Laws To Protect And Empower D.C. Youth, Mae C. Quinn, Tierra Copeland, Tatyana Hopkins, Mary Brody
University of the District of Columbia Law Review
In February 2020, the District of Columbia (“District” or “D.C.”) Juvenile Justice Advisory Group (“JJAG”), issued an important report calling for decriminalization of “status offenses.” Status offenses are alleged youthful wrongdoings that are prosecuted in the District as “Persons in Need of Supervision” cases.1 This Position Paper provides additional support for JJAG’s recommendations. It offers guidance and suggestions to help the District successfully transition away from PINS prosecutions—while also ensuring community youth feel safe, supported, and empowered in their own lives as they transition to adulthood. The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has historically been the enforcement arm to address youth …
Juvenile Life Without Parole: Exposing The Parallels Between Juvenile Offenders And Those Who Sentence Them, Autumn Fortenberry
Juvenile Life Without Parole: Exposing The Parallels Between Juvenile Offenders And Those Who Sentence Them, Autumn Fortenberry
Honors Theses
This thesis will discuss Juvenile Life Without Parole sentencing (JLWOP) from three perspectives: (1) the evolving standard of decency as developed through relevant U.S. Supreme Court cases; (2) the cognitive and psychosocial development of adolescents that creates reduced culpability in juvenile offenders; and (3) the justifications and implications of punishment as-applied to juvenile offenders. In my fourth chapter, I argue that JLWOP sentencing disregards the humanity and transformable nature of juvenile offenders. I will then draw a parallel between the implications of a juvenile offender's underdeveloped cognitive functions on their decision-making processes and the implications of a trial judge's underdeveloped …