Law Commons^™

Unstable Homes Exacerbated By Unstable Courts: How Ohio's Split-Child-Custody Jurisdiction Harms Ohio's Children And Families, Philip Shipman

Et Cetera

Raising a child is very difficult. Add to the difficulty in raising a child the specter of a child custody suit, and you have a recipe that can end in disaster.

In Ohio, child custody is not fair. It is not just. It is determined by judges, whose jurisdiction is determined by whether the child’s parents were married to each other. Under this jurisdictional scheme, Ohio’s children are failed. This failure stems from Ohio courts making their own rules without care to fairness and equality. Within most of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties, juvenile and domestic relations courts can, and do, set …

Due Process Junior: Competent (Enough) For The Court, Tigan Woolson

Journal of Law and Health

There are many reports presenting expert policy recommendations, and a substantial volume of research supporting them, that detail what should shape and guide statutes for juvenile competency to stand trial. Ohio has adopted provisions consistent with some of these recommendations, which is better protection than relying on case law and the adult statutes, as some states have done. However, the Ohio statute should be considered a work in progress.

Since appeals courts are unlikely to provide meaningful review for the substance of a juvenile competency determination, the need for procedures for ensuring that the determination is initially made in a …

Innocent Until Proven Arrested: How Pretrial Juvenile Detention For Nonviolent Offenders In Ohio Inflicts Constitutional Violations, Taryn Schoenfeld

Et Cetera

When a juvenile is accused of committing a crime in Ohio, juvenile court judges must determine whether to detain the child pretrial in a juvenile jail or permit the child to go home to await trial. Whereas alleged adult offenders have the right to pay a monetary bond to be released from jail pretrial, juveniles have no such right. Thus, once a judge makes the decision to detain a juvenile pretrial—prior to being adjudicated delinquent of any crime—it is difficult for that decision to be undone. While incarcerated, juveniles suffer irreversible psychological, emotional, mental, and social harms, despite juvenile courts …

Capital Punishment Of Young Adults In Light Of Evolving Standards Of Science And Decency: Why Ohio Should Raise The Minimum Age For Death Penalty Eligibility To Twenty-Five (25), Talia Stewart

Cleveland State Law Review

Up until the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling in Roper v. Simmons, juveniles could constitutionally be executed for qualifying criminal offenses. The Roper Court raised the minimum age for execution to eighteen, citing both a national consensus against executing minors, as well as recent research (at the time) showing that juveniles are more vulnerable to negative influences and outside pressures. Since Roper, the Supreme Court has remained silent regarding the requisite minimum age for execution and has left the decision up to individual states. While a slim majority of states have now abolished the death penalty in its entirety, …

Juvenile Life Without Parole: How The Supreme Court Of Ohio Should Interpret Montgomery V. Louisiana, Grace O. Hurley

Cleveland State Law Review

Regardless of the numerous differences between juveniles and adults, some states, including the State of Ohio, continue to impose upon juvenile homicide offenders one of the harshest forms of punishment: life without parole. In 2016, the United States Supreme Court decided Montgomery v. Louisiana, and in doing so, the Court reiterated its previous contention that a sentence of juvenile life without parole should only be imposed upon juvenile homicide offenders whose crimes reflect "irreparable corruption." The Supreme Court of Ohio has yet to apply the Court’s Montgomery decision, but this Note suggests that if it does, the court should …

Puffing Away Parental Rights: A Survey And Analysis Of Whether Secondhand Smoke Exposure Is Child Abuse, Karly Huml

Journal of Law and Health

The steps taken thus far to protect children in public areas, custody cases, and in vehicles show the legislature's awareness of the chemical harms of secondhand smoke for children. This article will analyze those steps and discuss what they mean for both parents' and children's constitutional rights. This article proposes that the legislature take a vital fourth step by including secondhand smoke exposure in child abuse laws. Section II of this article provides the history of smoking tobacco and its transition from a trendy social status to an unpopular, harmful habit. Section II also introduces the steps that have been …

Pushing The Limits: Reining In Ohio's Residency Restrictions For Sex Offenders, Taurean J. Shattuck

Cleveland State Law Review

The danger to children posed by convicted sex offenders living near schools, parks, and bus stops has been greatly exaggerated by the media. In turn, many state legislatures have attempted to find solutions to this perceived problem, imposing sanctions that seem to keep the "problem" at bay. A relatively new approach prevents those convicted of sex crimes from living within a certain distance of places where children congregate. Ohio is one of the states that has adopted this approach. The problem with this approach, however, is that imposing such restrictions on all individuals convicted of certain crimes imposes barriers to …

Can I See Some Id? Banning Access To Cosmetic Breast Implant Surgery For Minors Under Eighteen , Katherine Cohen Cooper

Journal of Law and Health

In many situations it is perfectly reasonable, and in fact preferable, to allow parents to consent to medical interventions on the behalf of their minor children. Parents enjoy a constitutional liberty interest in directing the upbringing of their children; it is presumed that parents will act in the best interests of their children when they substitute their experiences and judgment for a child’s in making important life decisions.8 This article highlights, however, that when it comes to providing consent for their children to undergo medically unnecessary breast implant surgery, the rationales underlying the presumption of deference to parents and medical …

Proving Medical Child Abuse: The Time Is Now For Ohio To Focus On The Victim And Not The Abuser, Tiffany S. Allison

Journal of Law and Health

Part I of this Note will discuss the history of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy and how the medical community is trying to make the general public aware of medical child abuse. Part II provides a history of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy and medical child abuse. It also highlights the differences in how litigation was previously handled under the nomenclature of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy and how litigation should be handled in the future under the nomenclature of medical child abuse. Part III identifies Ohio's current statutes and federal legislation that have an effect on child abuse. Part III also identifies …

Bullies In A Wired World: The Impact Of Cyberspace Victimization On Adolescent Mental Health And The Need For Cyberbullying Legislation In Ohio, Kelly A. Albin

Journal of Law and Health

This Note examines cyberbullying's impact on adolescents' mental health and psychological development and explores an Ohio-specific legislative response to the problem. Part II addresses the urgent need for cyberbullying legislation, the inadequacy of Ohio law, and the detrimental effects that may result when juveniles are targeted by cyberbullies. Part III demonstrates how other states have reacted to the cyberbullying problem by amending already enacted bullying statutes or by creating new and specific cyberbullying laws. Part IV proposes a new cyberbullying statute that criminalizes the more extreme cases of cyberbullying, incorporates age as a sentencing factor, and introduces school-employee liability for …

Reforming The Safe Haven In Ohio: Protecting The Rights Of Mothers Through Anonymity, Brittany Neal

Journal of Law and Health

This Note discusses the conflict between the statewide safe haven law and the Ohio juvenile rules regarding procedure. It purports that to protect the rights of new mothers and retain the essential element of anonymity, Ohio’s Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to be amended to maintain the state’s current safe haven law. Therefore, because of the statewide threat Ohio courts place on Ohio’s safe haven law, Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to explicitly provide for an additional exception in cases of child relinquishment. Section II of this Note discusses the beginning of state safe haven legislation and what the laws are attempting …

(E)Racing Youth: The Racialized Construction Of California's Proposition 21 And The Development Of Alternate Contestations, Nicholas Espiritu

Cleveland State Law Review

Illustrating the way in which conceptions of race and crime shape and are shaped by law is California's Proposition 21. Enacted in 2000, Proposition 21, also known as the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act," was the product of California's direct democratic process through which voters are able to change the California Constitution through a simple majority vote. Part II address the ideological foundations of direct democracy and examines critically its ability to serve a democratic function. I examine the founders' rationale behind the decision not to employ a representative form of government, and look at direct democracy in …

Theories Of Therapeutic Evolution For Juvenile Drug Courts In The Face Of The Onset Of The Co-Occurrence Of Mental Health Issues And Substance/Alcohol Abuse, David L. Harvey Iii

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this Note is to review two specific and newly emerging therapeutic courts: juvenile mental health courts and juvenile drug courts. It will explain how and why a mental health element should be implemented into the juvenile drug court system. Part II of this Note will give a historical and procedural overview of juvenile drug courts. These procedures will draw mainly from the newly formed Medina County Juvenile Drug Court, located in Medina, Ohio. Part III will explain the origination and procedures currently employed by juvenile mental health courts, as they relate specifically to Santa Clara's Court for …

Do Not Resuscitate Decision-Making: Ohio's Do Not Resuscitate Law Should Be Amended To Include A Mature Minor's Right To Initiate A Dnr Order, Allison Mantz

Journal of Law and Health

Part One discusses Ohio's current DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) law, which does not include an exception for mature minors. It explains the medical difference between initiating a valid DNR order and refusing life-sustaining medical treatment. However, the note solely focuses on DNR and how it relates to a minor's right to initiate his or her own DNR order in light of parental disagreement. Part two explains the evolution of the minor and healthcare. Specifically, the progression from the early common law assumption that minors lack the capacity to consent, to the present, in which minors are permitted to make some …

The Effects Of Mediation In A Juvenile Incarceration Facility: Reduction Of Violence Through Transformation, Linda Morton, Floralynn Einesman

Cleveland State Law Review

The use of mediation techniques to resolve conflicts among American youth has grown in popularity over the past two decades; Conflict resolution programs have blossomed in school systems, but there has been a dearth of mediation programs for one of our most violent youth groups: incarcerated juveniles. In this article, we describe and analyze the effects and the potential success of our program through the data we have collected. Our article will first describe the objectives and content of our mediation program in Juvenile Hall in San Diego. Relying on sociological and psychological theory in our second section, we will …

Biomedical And Behavioral Research On Juvenile Inmates: Uninformed Choices And Coerced Participation, Brian Paul Wyman

Journal of Law and Health

The question that will be addressed here is whether juvenile inmates can voluntarily give informed consent to participate in biomedical and behavioral research. Further, can juvenile inmates act voluntarily in the midst of coercion used by researchers to persuade the subjects to participate, and coercion that is inherent in the nature of being a juvenile inmate? Can consent be informed when a juvenile inmate's comprehension and understanding of what biomedical and behavioral research entails is limited by age and maturity level? Finally, even if juvenile inmates are deemed capable to give voluntary informed consent to biomedical and behavioral research, is …

A Current Look At Ohio's Juvenile Justice System On The 100th Anniversary Of The Juvenile Court, Scott C. Zarzycki

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note takes a closer look at the problems associated with transferring juveniles to adult court by focusing on Ohio's juvenile transfer statute. Part II begins with an analysis of the history of the juvenile court, including its establishment and evolution throughout time. It also includes an analysis of how the common interpretation of the original approach to juvenile crime has created an overly narrow view of how to deal with the problem today. Part III examines the latest crime statistics that reveal a significant drop in juvenile crime. This section also explores various alternative explanations for the apparent rise …

Race For Perfection: Children's Rights And Enhancement Drugs, Therese Powers

Journal of Law and Health

This Note will address the question of what are a child's rights when the child's views differ from his or her parents regarding the child's use or refusal of enhancement drugs such as Ritalin and Human Growth Hormone. This Note will begin with a description of Ritalin and Human Growth Hormone along with the uses and abuses of each drug. It will then discuss the evolution of children's rights dealing with situations such as civil commitment, abortion, and medical treatment over religious objection. Furthermore, it will draw comparisons from the case law in these situations to a child's right to …

When Something Wicked This Way Comes: Evolving Standards Of Indecency - Thompson And Stanford Revisited , Jennifer L. Whitney

Cleveland State Law Review

If the death penalty becomes an option for children under sixteen, the unavoidable conclusion must be that we have reverted back to colonial theories of punishment. The issue facing the nation will again become at what age to draw the line. In this article I argue that, as a society, we must prevent such executions and refute claims that, as a result of the failure of the juvenile justice system to rehabilitate killers before they kill, a consensus in favor of reducing the minimum age of execution has evolved. Part II of this note presents the theories of colonial crime …

The Ohio Supreme Court Sets The Statute Of Limitations And Adopts The Discovery Rule For Childhood Sexual Abuse Actions: Now It Is Time For Legislative Action, R. Christopher Yingling

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note discusses the issue of childhood sexual abuse and challenges the appropriateness of Ohio's current statute of limitations for prosecuting a civil claim of childhood sexual abuse. Part II of this Note describes the problem of child sexual abuse in our society. Part III examines the short-and long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse, particularly memory repression. Part IV reviews the theory of recovered memories and the associated problems with reliability. Part V addresses Ohio's governing statute of limitations for civil claims of childhood sexual abuse. Part VI reviews the history of the discovery rule in Ohio and its application …

Advancing The Rights Of Children And Adolescents To Be Altruistic: Bone Marrow Donation By Minors, Jennifer K. Robbennolt, Victoria Weisz, Craig M. Lawson

Journal of Law and Health

This article examines the standards used for answering the question of whether minors should be allowed to donate bone marrow. Part II introduces the legal background and the standards currently used by courts. Part III explores the unsatisfactory nature of these standards. Part IV presents an empirical study that is intended to provide some help in understanding what might be a useful and respectful standard. Part V concludes the article with a discussion of two alternative revised standards grounded in the doctrines of substituted judgment and the best interests of the child.

Implications Of The United States Ratification Of The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child: Civil Rights, The Constitution And The Family, Barbara J. Nauck

Cleveland State Law Review

This note begins with an examination of why the UNCRC has yet to be ratified in this country. The perspective of children's rights advocates is discussed. A comparison of Romano-Germanic and common law is presented to facilitate an understanding of the major differences that affect the way the UNCRC is viewed under the two systems. The effect of a treaty, self-executing or not, in United States' courts is examined. Civil Rights Articles 13, 14,15 and 16 in the Convention are linguistically analyzed and the United States law applicable to each Article is reviewed for its compatibility with the UNCRC. This …

Implications Of The United States Ratification Of The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child: Civil Rights, The Constitution And The Family, Barbara J. Nauck

Cleveland State Law Review

This note begins with an examination of why the UNCRC has yet to be ratified in this country. The perspective of children's rights advocates is discussed. A comparison of Romano-Germanic and common law is presented to facilitate an understanding of the major differences that affect the way the UNCRC is viewed under the two systems. The effect of a treaty, self-executing or not, in United States' courts is examined. Civil Rights Articles 13, 14,15 and 16 in the Convention are linguistically analyzed and the United States law applicable to each Article is reviewed for its compatibility with the UNCRC. This …

The Boarder Baby And Foster Care Crises In New York City: Problems Of Policy And Poverty, James S. Bowen, Madeline Morris, Jose M. Rivera

Journal of Law and Health

In this article, we will examine the conditions which have created the boarder baby epidemic and the attendant problem of lack of availability of foster care. We will briefly examine the social, cultural, psychological and political parameters which have determined the dynamics of this problem. Finally, we will review some earlier attempts toward the resolution of the problem and provide an overview evaluating the bona fides of those approaches. Our analysis will also draw upon relevant events which have occurred in other American cities that help us to understand this problem.

Reading, Writing, But No Biting: Isolating School Children With Aids, Carolyn J. Kasler

Cleveland State Law Review

AIDS is a unique disease with unknown, unproven risks and undetermined potential for affecting our society's well-being. Due to the age and uncertainty of the disease, it must be addressed differently from any other diseases with which we have been faced in the past. The problems are severe, and barriers facing both victims and non-victims in the school setting are phenomenal. We must not be without compassion for the victims, children innocently contaminated by this devastating disease, for the victims in this country may soon outweigh the unaffected citizens. Presently, we have a duty to prevent the spread of this …

The Eighth Amendment And Capital Punishment Of Juveniles, Victor L. Streib

Cleveland State Law Review

The practice of imposing the death penalty for crimes committed while under the age of eighteen has occurred sporadically but persistently throughout American history. It gives every indication of continuing in this mode under current law and practice. Greatly differing approaches are followed by the various states as to the authorization and imposition of capital punishment for juveniles. This article explores the existence of a constitutionally-mandated minimum age below which the states may not venture in carrying out this practice. If such a nationwide minimum age exists or should exist, its justification can be found in current interpretations of the …

In Re Polovchak: Guidelines For The Grant Of Asylum To A Minor, Cheryl A. Blackburn

Cleveland State Law Review

The Polovchak controversy recently accentuated the absence of clear guidelines applicable to the grant of asylum to a minor. This Note will commence with an exploration of the competing interests which would be affected by the grant of asylum to a minor, including the parents' interest, the minor's interest, and the interest of the state. An analysis of the historical and current federal asylum procedure will follow. After examining In re Polovchak, this Note will recommend that a revision of the current asylum process is necessary to protect individual interests from arbitrary and unjustified decisions. Such a revision would establish …

Standard Of Proof In Proceedings To Terminate Parental Rights, Dean Michael Rooney

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note advocates the use of the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard of proof in proceedings to terminate parental rights permanently. The Note will commence with background considerations such as the authority of the state to terminate parental rights, the rights of the parties involved in a termination proceeding and a discussion of standards of proof. Consideration will also be given to the factors which should have an impact on the standard of proof in permanent termination proceedings. These factors include: the vagueness of termination statutes, the fundamental right of family integrity, the broad discretionary powers of the courts involved, the need for …

Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings In Ohio: Due Process And The Hearsay Dilemma, Sara E. Strattan

Cleveland State Law Review

This comment will explore the extent to which the exclusion of hearsay evidence in a delinquency proceeding is a practical reality in the Ohio system. In so doing, the possibilities for abuse will be highlighted and suggestions for their elimination will be made, all in the spirit of the Supreme Court's mandate to provide fundamental due process safeguards to this procedure.

Juvenile Delinquent And Unruly Proceedings In Ohio: Unconstitutional Adjudications, Patricia Simia Kleri

Cleveland State Law Review

This article will focus on the constitutional defects of juvenile court adjudications under Ohio juvenile law. The arguments presented, however, are equally applicable in other jurisdictions since every state has some type of legislation granting juvenile court jurisdiction over both criminals and noncriminal misconduct of children.