Juvenile Law Commons^™

Legal Representation Of Parents In Child Dependency Cases In Virginia, Eric J. Reynolds

University of Richmond Law Review

Virginia’s current system of providing court-appointed legal counsel for parents involved in child dependency cases is unsustainable and inadequate, requiring swift and dramatic action from the state government. Inadequate legal representation for parents often leads to poor outcomes for children and a lack of protections for the parents’ due process rights. While attempts to improve the system have been made in recent years, they are often quickly dismissed. The largest hindrances in the current system, this Article suggests, is that court-appointed attorneys for parents are typically underpaid, undertrained, and consequently unable to meaningfully advocate for their client. Due to the …

Prison Housing Policies For Transgender, Non-Binary, Gender-Non-Conforming, And Intersex People: Restorative Ways To Address The Gender Binary In The United States Prison System, John G. Sims

University of Richmond Law Review

“[I]t was the end of the last quarter of 2019 where I was able to drop the lawsuit against the correctional officer who had sexually harmed me when I knew . . . that the carceral state is not the way for me to find healing . . . . I was not going to seek my transformation and restoration through this system.”

Each year, rhetoric and legislation attacking transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming and intersex individuals seemingly grows louder. Many political institutions in the United States perpetuate and enable the oppression of these individuals, one of which is the United …

Juvenile Justice, Valerie Slater

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article serves as a review of recent juvenile justice law and legislative trends in Virginia. This Article will review both codified changes and relevant proposed legislation that did not pass the Legislature to more fully identify trends in juvenile justice. While this Article does not capture every proposed or codified change to Virginia juvenile justice law, it does identify and present the most significant changes and trends over the last two legislative sessions to the laws governing the entrance of youth into the criminal legal system, the treatment of Virginia’s youth directly involved in the criminal legal system, and …

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 …

A Look Back And A Look Forward: Legislative And Regulatory Highlights For 2008 And 2009 And A Discussion Of Juvenile Transfer, Andrew K. Block

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Family And Juvenile Law, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Novak V. Commonwealth: Are Virginia Courts Providing Special Protection To Virginia's Juvenile Defendants?, Ellen R. Fulmer

University of Richmond Law Review

On March 9, 1991, Shawn Paul Novak was charged with the murder of two young boys, Daniel Grier, age nine, and Christopher Weaver, age seven. The boys had disappeared on March 4 and their bodies were found the next day after an extensive search. The police inquiry into the murders led to the questioning of a number of people, including Shawn, then age sixteen. Shawn was questioned on four separate occasions. At no time prior to, during, or after any of these questioning sessions was Shawn read his Mirandawarnings which specify the rights to which he was entitled under the …

The Revision Of Virginia's Juvenile Court Law, Lelia Baum Hopper, Frank M. Slayton

University of Richmond Law Review

Since 1899, the year in which the state of Illinois established a separate statutory framework for addressing the problems of children before the courts, the juvenile justice system has been struggling to establish its identity in the jurisprudence of the United States. The juvenile court laws of this country, including those of the Commonwealth of Virginia, have historically been based on the doctrine of "parens patriae", which is formally defined as the "sovereign power of guardianship over persons under disability."' According to this doctrine, the state, through the court system, can be trusted to fulfill its obligation with respect to …

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.