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Full-Text Articles in Law
Juvenile Competency Adjudication In California Criminal Court, Michael W. Hanley
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 …
Sell's Conundrums, Christopher Slobogin
Sell's Conundrums, Christopher Slobogin
Christopher Slobogin
The Supreme Court’s decision in Sell v. United States surprised most observers by holding that the situations in which the state is authorized to forcibly medicate a criminal defendant to restore competency to stand trial "may be rare." This essay argues to the contrary that, wittingly or not, Sell created three exceptions to the right to refuse (the dangerousness, incompetency and serious crime exceptions) that virtually swallow the right, at least when the medication is "medically appropriate." The essay explores the scope of these exceptions and the dispositions available in those rare circumstances when none of them is met. It …