Juvenile Law Commons^™

Child Statements In A Post-Crawford World: What The United States Supreme Court Failed To Consider With Regard To Child Victims And Witnesses, Allie Phillips

ExpressO

With the issuance of Crawford v. Washington, 514 U.S. 36 (2004), by the United States Supreme Court on March 8, 2004, wide spread confusion and concern swept through the nation’s prosecutorial community. The new rule announced in Crawford created too many questions and provided few answers by the Court. In particular, anxiety arose from the child protection community in regard to one primary issue: Are forensic interviews of child victims and witnesses, and other statements made by children, considered “testimonial statements” according to Crawford, thus requiring the child to take the witness stand? The Court further confused the new rule …

Family And Juvenile Law, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Malibu Locals Only: "Boys Will Be Boys", Or Dangerous Street Gang? Why The Criminal Justice System's Failure To Properly Identify Suburban Gangs Hurts Efforts At Fighting Gangs, Brian William Ludeke

ExpressO

In the last several years, a group of youths calling themselves Malibu Locals Only or MLO has performed several violent crimes, intimidating many people in the area around Malibu, CA. Despite the gang-like appearance of these youths and their crimes, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials insist that MLO is not a gang. This article examines MLO, its history, and its current state in the context of California anti-gang legislation.

The article theorizes that the criminal justice system's failure to call a group like MLO a gang while waging war on other groups, primarily in lower income, heavily minority areas, …

Roper V. Simmons: A Dead-End For The Juvenile Death Penalty, Robert F. Glass

Mercer Law Review

In Roper v. Simmons, the United States Supreme Court held that executing a person under the age of eighteen constituted cruel and unusual punishment as prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Relying on support ranging from scientific and sociological studies to the laws of foreign countries, the Court reversed its 1989 ruling in Stanford v. Kentucky, which upheld the constitutionality of juvenile execution. This case is important because it (1) represents the Court's increasingly restrictive view with regard to permissible punishment under the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and (2) raises significant questions …

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Adult Punishment For Juvenile Offenders: Does It Reduce Crime?, Richard E. Redding

Working Paper Series

This chapter discusses the research on the general and specific deterrent effects of transferring juveniles for trial in adult criminal court, identifies gaps in our knowledge base that require further research, discusses the circumstances under which effective deterrence may be achieved, and examines whether there are effective alternatives for achieving deterrence other than adult sanctions for serious juvenile offenders. As a backdrop to this analysis, the chapter first examines the role of public opinion in shaping the get tough policies, and how policy makers have misunderstood and perceived support for these policies.

Minor Discrepancies: Forging A Common Understanding Of Adolescent Competence In Healthcare Decision-Making And Criminal Responsibility, Kimberly M. Mutcherson

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Defending And Despairing: The Agony Of Juvenile Defense, Abbe Smith

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Multicultural Perspectives On Delinquency Etiology And Intervention, Richard E. Redding, Bruce Arrigo

Working Paper Series

In this chapter, we consider the possible reasons for the overrepresentation of African-American youth in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. We review research on discrimination in the justice system and possible differences between African American and White youth in the key risk factors for delinquency that exist at the individual, family, and peer-group and neighborhood levels. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for treatments and interventions aimed at preventing and reducing offending and justice system involvement among African-American youth.

Punishing Children In The Criminal Law, Cynthia V. Ward

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Truancy Court Program To Keep Students In School, Barbara A. Babb

All Faculty Scholarship

Under Maryland law, "[e]ach person who has legal custody or care and control of a child who is 5 years old or older and under 16 shall see that the child attends school..." MD. Education Code Ann. Sect. 7-301 (c) 2006. The law also provides penalties for violations, as the legal custodian or caregiver "who fails to see that the child attends school...is guilty of a misdemeanor," which could result in fines of $50 to $100 per day of unlawful absence and/or imprisonment for 10 to 30 days, depending on whether the conviction is a first or subsequent conviction. MD. …

Blue Mourning: Postpartum Psychosis And The Criminal Insanity Defense, Waking To The Reality Of Women Who Kill Their Children, 39 J. Marshall L. Rev. 515 (2006), Jessica Butterfield

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adolescence And The Regulation Of Youth Crime, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

I am delighted to be a part of this Symposium on Law and Adolescence. My talk today is about adolescent development and juvenile justice policy. Specifically, I will focus on why a legal regime that is grounded in scientific knowledge about adolescence and the role of criminal activity during this developmental period is better for young offenders and for society than the contemporary policy, which often pays little attention to differences between adolescents and adults.

My talk is based on a book on juvenile justice policy I am currently writing with Larry Steinberg, a developmental psychologist who is a leading …

Public Preferences For Rehabilitation Versus Incarceration Of Juvenile Offenders: Evidence From A Contingent Valuation Survey, Daniel S. Nagin, Alex R. Piquero, Elizabeth S. Scott, Laurence Steinberg

Faculty Scholarship

Research Summary:
Accurately gauging the public's support for alternative responses to juvenile offending is important, because policy makers often justify expenditures for punitive juvenile justice reforms on the basis of popular demand for tougher policies. In this study, we assess public support for both punitively and nonpunitively oriented juvenile justice policies by measuring respondents' willingness to pay for various policy proposals. We employ a methodology known as "contingent valuation" (CV) that permits the comparison of respondents' willingness to pay (WTP) for competing policy alternatives. Specifically, we compare CV-based estimates for the public's WTP for two distinctively different responses to serious …

Defending And Despairing: The Agony Of Juvenile Defense, Abbe Smith

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

I believe there is no more important work than defending kids, especially those accused of serious crimes. The consequences of juvenile crime are increasingly severe, whether kids remain in the juvenile system or are prosecuted as adults. We lock up too many people in this country, many of whom are children. Surely, at the start of the twenty-first century - given our knowledge about the causes of juvenile delinquency and crime - we can do more than put troubled kids in cages. So, why not work with young offenders who are on their way to becoming adult clients, to try …

The New "Fetal Protection": The Wrong Answer To The Crisis Of Inadequate Health Care For Women And Children, Linda C. Fentiman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article will expand upon the feminist critique by focusing on children's health as well as the health and liberty interests of their mothers. In the first part of this article, I examine the legal and cultural underpinnings of “fetal protection” and explore its current manifestations. In the second part, I place “fetal protection” in a broader context, documenting the ways in which American law currently promotes fetal life, while simultaneously neglecting the lives and health of born children. The third part of the article offers concrete recommendations about how government, both state and federal, can actually achieve the goal …

Rational Choice And Developmental Influences On Recidivism Among Adolescent Felony Offenders, Jeffrey Fagan, Alex R. Piquero

Faculty Scholarship

Recent law and scholarship has claimed that the developmental limitations of adolescents affect their capacity for control and decision making with respect to crime, diminishing their culpability and reducing their exposure to punishment. Social science has focused on two concurrent adolescent developmental influence: the internalization of legal rules and norms that regulate social and antisocial behaviors, and the development of rational thought to frame behavioral choices and decisions. The interaction of these two developmental processes, and the identification of one domain of socialization and development as the primary source of motivation or restraint in adolescence, is the focus of this …

It Takes A Lawyer To Raise A Child?: Allocating Responsibilities Among Parents, Children, And Lawyers In Delinquency Cases, Kristin N. Henning

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article considers whether, and to what extent, children do or should look to parents for guidance in matters of juvenile delinquency. To this end, I draw insight from theories of adolescent development, rules of professional ethics, and principles of constitutional law and justice. In Part I, I identify opportunities for support and collaboration between children and parents in the juvenile justice system and then consider the potential for conflict in these families. In Part II, I propose six strategies for effective lawyering on behalf of children and parents in juvenile court. Given the complexities of the issues, I recognize …

Aggravating Youth: Roper V Simmons And Age Discrimination, Elizabeth F. Emens

Faculty Scholarship

In Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court confronted a difficult question: Given that being younger than eighteen is merely a proxy for diminished culpability, why not let jurors decide whether youth mitigates the culpability of an individual sixteen- or seventeen-year-old offender? The Court's subtle answer draws on psychological literature about the differences between juveniles and adults, but ultimately depends as much on concerns about the mind of the adult juror as on the distinctive traits of juveniles. Read in its best light, Kennedy's opinion seems to turn on the insight that while age-based classifications are rational – they are a …

Public Attitudes About The Culpability And Punishment Of Young Offenders, Elizabeth S. Scott, N. Dickon Reppucci, Jill Antonishak, Jennifer T. Degennaro

Faculty Scholarship

Conventional wisdom holds that the public supports harsh punishment of juvenile offenders, and politicians often argue that the public demands tough policies. But public opinion is usually gauged through simplistic polls, often conducted in the wake of highly publicized violent crimes by juveniles. This study seeks to probe public opinion about the culpability of young offenders as compared to adult counterparts through more nuanced and comprehensive measures in a neutral setting (i.e. not in response to a high profile crime or during a political campaign when the media focuses on the issue). The opinions of 788 community adults were individually …

Adult Punishment For Juvenile Offenders: Does It Reduce Crime?, Richard E. Redding

Richard E. Redding

This chapter discusses the research on the general and specific deterrent effects of transferring juveniles for trial in adult criminal court, identifies gaps in our knowledge base that require further research, discusses the circumstances under which effective deterrence may be achieved, and examines whether there are effective alternatives for achieving deterrence other than adult sanctions for serious juvenile offenders. As a backdrop to this analysis, the chapter first examines the role of public opinion in shaping the get tough policies, and how policy makers have misunderstood and perceived support for these policies.