Law Commons^™

“Take Your Pictures, Leave Your (Digital) Footprints”: Increasing Privacy Protections For Children On Social Media, Kodie Mcginley

Golden Gate University Law Review

As the digital sphere becomes more prevalent in people’s lives, Congress has tried to keep up. First created in 1998, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires operators of websites directed at children to obtain consent from parents before collecting any personal information from children. COPPA also requires that operators take reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of any personal information collected about children. Although COPPA has helped regulate online spaces, its focus is on regulating websites that collect personal information directly from children. This focus leaves a gap in the law that ignores personal data shared on social …

Locked Away For Life: The Case Against Juvenile Life Without Parole For Felony Murder, Jennifer Gomez

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment argues that life without the possibility of parole is not an appropriate sentence for juveniles who commit felony murder because of the inherent characteristics of juveniles, such as their immaturity and inability to foresee consequences. At the age of seventeen, Riley Briones was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for his involvement in a robbery that resulted in a murder. Abused by his father throughout his childhood, Briones’ use of alcohol and drugs began early at the age of eleven. While he had aspired to attend college, Briones became a teen parent which required him to …

The Supreme Court Rolls Back The Clock For Juvenile Justice, Jack Lyons

GGU Law Review Blog

For decades, the Supreme Court has protected juveniles from harsh punishments, such as mandatory life without parole (LWOP), by acknowledging that children are different and must be sentenced accordingly. The developmental differences in children make it nearly impossible to determine that a child who commits a crime is beyond hope for rehabilitation. Jones v. Mississippi turned back the clock on juvenile justice by holding that sentencers need not find a child is “permanently incorrigible” before sentencing them to life without parole.

J.E.F.M. V. Lynch: The Jurisdictional Exclusion Of Legal Representation For Immigrant Children, Kourtney Speer

Golden Gate University Law Review

The border crisis created a perfect storm in immigration courts, as children wind their way from border crossings to immigration proceedings. The storm has battered immigration courtrooms crowded with young defendants but lacking lawyers and judges to handle the sheer volume of cases.

Set Up To Fail: Youth Probation Conditions As A Driver Of Incarceration, Jyoti Nanda

Publications

Youth probation is the most common form of punishment for youth in the United States criminal legal system, with nearly a quarter of a million youth currently under supervision. Yet the role youth probation conditions play in the incarceration of youth has not been the focus of legal scholarship. Youth probation is a court-imposed intervention where young people remain at home under the supervision of a youth probation officer and are required to adhere to probation conditions, rules, and court-ordered conditions. The orders rely on standardized terms on youth probation condition forms. This is the first scholarly Article to excavate …

Remembering California’S History In Youth Corrections, Sadie Minjares Odom

GGU Law Review Blog

California Governor Gavin Newson’s 2021-22 state budget sets forth plans to permanently close the California’s Division of Juvenile Justice and transition any children in the state’s care to the counties who committed them. On September 30, 2020, California lawmakers passed SB 823, the pillar of this transition. As the closure of the state-run juvenile correctional system marks a new journey for California’s youth, the state’s gloomy history in youth corrections looms overhead.

Web Of Incarceration: School-Based Probation, Jyoti Nanda

Publications

Close to three quarters of a million cases flow through the United States’ juvenile justice system annually. Juvenile probation is the most commonly utilized form of sentencing, yet juvenile probation has not been the focus of sustained research or analysis. This Article focuses on School-Based Probation, a type of juvenile probation program that was created to enroll youth before a criminal charge has been filed. Described by its proponents as a “voluntarily probation” program, pre-delinquent, or “at-risk,” youth are identified by on-site school probation officers and enrolled in a supervised program. Deemed to be problematic by many jurisdictions, this Article …

Reimagining Criminal Justice: Black And Brown Youthin Gang Database Are Guilty Until Proven Innocent, Irish Tapia

Reimagining Criminal Justice

Young men of color growing up across this nation face a hurdle most of us will never have to imagine. If a student of color is not diverted to the criminal justice system, suspended or expelled, they might nonetheless be labeled and marked as having gang affliations, based solely on the discretion of local law enforcement.This ‘identity’ has significant long-term consequences. The “shared gang database” is real. Individuals named in the database do not have to agree to be listed, and they also do not have control over getting off it. A young man of color in a public school, …

Children In Foster Care: The Odds Are Against Them, Shawna Doughman

GGU Law Review Blog

Most child welfare reports that lead to removal of children from their homes are filed for neglect rather than abuse. Often, their parents want to take care of them, but are failing for one reason, or for many. Nonetheless, the lion’s share of the $30 billion annual budget of state and federal child welfare funding goes overwhelmingly to foster care and adoption services which remove the children from their parents, instead of to helping those families care for their own children.

THE S

Lgbtq Youth Homelessness And Discrimination In The Child Welfare System, Markie Flores

Poverty Law Conference & Symposium

Despite the existence of LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws, LGBTQ youth are still being discriminated against within the foster care system. The primary cause of all youth homelessness is family conflict, and LGBTQ youth are more susceptible to family conflict when they come out to their parents. The Williams Institute surveyed 354 agencies throughout the United States who work with LGBTQ homeless populations and found that 68% of clients have experienced family rejection. The True Colors Fund notes that more than 1 in 4 LGBTQ teens are forced to leave their homes after coming out to their parents. LGBTQ youth also face …

The Construction And Criminalization Of Disability In School Incarceration, Jyoti Nanda

Publications

This Article explores how race functions to ascribe and criminalize disability. It posits that for White students in wealthy schools, disabilities or perceived disabilities are often viewed as medical conditions and treated with care and resources. For students of color, however, the construction of disability (if it exists) may be a criminalized condition that is treated as warranting punishment and segregated classrooms, possibly leading to juvenile justice system involvement. Providing a review of the K-12 disability legal regimes, this Article maps how the process of identifying a student with a disability happens in a hypercriminalized school setting. The Article argues …

Child Obesity, School Food Environments And The Best Interests Of The Child, Benedetta Faedi Duramy

Publications

This article is about child obesity, school food, and the key role schools can play in creating environments that can enhance children’s eating patterns and lifestyle behaviours and, thus, can support the realization of children’s best interest in relation to food and health. In contrast to the traditional approach that frames the obesity problem as a personal issue or as a matter of parental responsibility, this article argues that the prevention of child obesity should be interpreted as a State obligation under both international and domestic laws. Analysis turns to the example of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, adopted in …

Reyes V. Lewis: A Missed Opportunity For Minors And Miranda, Jessica Bennett

Golden Gate University Law Review

The controversial debate—whether minors understand the complexity of Miranda rights—has prevented lawmakers from producing laws that assist minors in comprehending these warnings. As a protected class, minors should be provided with extra counseling if they are faced with criminal charges in order to save judicial resources and help keep innocent minors out of the criminal justice system. A law mandating that minors consult with a pro tem attorney prior to questioning could reduce the number of cases awaiting adjudication, relieve the court of having to investigate whether the minor was coerced, threatened, intimidated, tricked, or falsely promised, and would create …

Childhood Obesity And Positive Obligations: A Child Rights-Based Approach, Benedetta Faedi Duramy

Publications

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious current public health challenges. Its prevalence has increased at an alarming rate. The World Health Organization estimated that in 2016 the global number of overweight children under the age of five was over 41 million. Although there is widespread concern about the rising rates of childhood obesity, there is not as much consensus on how to address the problem. Obesity has been mostly considered either a matter of personal responsibility or of parental responsibility when it concerns children. Inadequate attention has been given instead to the obligations borne by States to prevent …

How Reasonable Are Reasonable Efforts For The Children Of Incarcerated Parents?, Courtney Serrato

Golden Gate University Law Review

This article will discuss the development of the laws concerning children with incarcerated parents. Ultimately, the goal is to encourage states like California to (1) expand the law regarding reasonable efforts even further, (2) encourage California prisons to take into consideration exceptions for children and incarcerated parents in implementing prison policies, and (3) provide other states with a model for proposing new laws that can be put into practice. The background of this article will explain the federal implementation of The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and the necessary changes California made to state law after the enactment of …

The Forgotten Children Of The Foster Care System: Making A Case For The Professional Judgment Standard, Andrea Koehler

Golden Gate University Law Review

Part I of this Comment presents a brief look at the children in foster care and the maltreatment they experience, as well as the federal and state legislation enacted to provide for their safety. Part II explores § 1983 and Supreme Court precedent establishing the duty to protect persons from harm caused by private parties, with a focus on the special relationship doctrine. It also discusses the applicable standards of liability defined by the Court. Part III reviews and analyzes the various liability standards used in federal and state actions brought by foster children for failure to protect them from …

Blind Discretion: Girls Of Color & Delinquency In The Juvenile Justice System, Jyoti Nanda

Publications

The juvenile justice system was designed to empower its decisionmakers with a wide grant of discretion in hopes of better addressing youth in a more individualistic and holistic, and therefore more effective, manner. Unfortunately for girls of color in the system, this discretionary charter given to police, probation officers, and especially judges has operated without sufficiently acknowledging and addressing their unique position. Indeed, the dearth of adequate gender/race intersectional analysis in the research and the stark absence of significant system tools directed at the specific characteristics of and circumstances faced by girls of color have tracked alarming trends such as …

Children Aren't Adults, Even When They Kill, Reichi Lee

Publications

No abstract provided.

A Unique Bench, A Common Code: Evaluating Judicial Ethics In Juvenile Court, Michele Benedetto Neitz

Publications

Recent cases involving ethical scandals on the juvenile court bench have caught the interest of legal scholars, judges, practitioners, and the public. This article proposes a new theoretical framework for assessing these problems and articulates a series of vital ethical reforms.

Despite their distinct role in an atypical court, juvenile court judges are not subject to unique ethical standards. Most jurisdictions have adopted the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct as the ethical code guiding juvenile court judges. However, this Model Code, intended to apply to any person in a decision-making capacity, was created for a more conventional type of …

Juvenile Law, Kenneth Hecht

Cal Law Trends and Developments

Review of the 1969 decisions in juvenile law reveals that the courts in California, as elsewhere, have been traumatized by the recent transplant of constitutional due process into the formerly barren soil of the juvenile code. For sixty years, children in most American jurisdictions were hidden from constitutional view. The fiction persisted that they were not tried but treated. If a child carne to the attention of the juvenile court, he did so because his parents had failed to fulfill their function. The court succeeded to their role and, in the name of parens patriae, exercised only the power it …

Turning Troubled Teens Into Career Criminals: Can California Reform The System To Rehabilitate Its Youth Offenders?, Anna L. Benvenue

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment proposes a statute mandating institutional reform of California's juvenile system, a necessary legislative step toward enabling the CY A to fulfill its statutory mission and judicial mandate. Changes originally proposed in California S.B. 609 are the first steps on the way to making rehabilitation a reality in the CYA. The approaches found in that bill, along with those found in other legislation, will enable the CYA to comply with its legislative mandate and with the Farrell consent decree.

Where Are The Parents? Parental Criminal Responsibility For The Acts Of Children, Lisa Lockwood

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment will examine the legal possibility of imposing parental criminal liability for the crimes committed by the direct acts of their children. Part II of this article will describe the elements required to impose criminal liability, specifically for the convictions of involuntary manslaughter and murder by depraved indifference. These elements are then juxtaposed against those required in civil tort law, which are substantially similar and therefore must apply to hold parents responsible for the deaths of third parties. Next, because parental criminal liability cases have not yet occurred, Part III will investigate cases in which the elements required for …

From Playpens To Prisons: What The Gang Violence And Juvenile Crime Prevention Act Of 1998 Does To California's Juvenile Justice System And Reasons To Repeal It, Sara Raymond

Golden Gate University Law Review

This comment will explore the most significant changes that the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act (GVJCPA) made to California's juvenile justice system. It will also discuss and propose alternative methods to curb juvenile crime. Part II will examine the juvenile justice system, including the context in which it was created, and juvenile crime across the country. It will then discuss how courts, legislatures, and local governments have confronted the changing nature of juvenile crime, focusing on efforts in California. Part II will also include an introduction to the GVJCPA. Part III will discuss the most important changes that …

Just Another Kid With A Gun? United States V. Michael R.: Reviewing The Youth Handgun Safety Act Under The United States V. Lopez Commerce Clause Analysis, Steven Rosenberg

Golden Gate University Law Review

The Lopez decision prompted many defendants, charged under a wide variety of federal statutes, to attack those statutes as unconstitutional under the new "commercial activity" test. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed one such challenge in United States v. Michael R. Section II of this note discusses Michael R.'s facts and procedural history. Section III outlines the history of Commerce Clause jurisprudence, with an emphasis on the recent change in the Supreme Court's review of Congress' use of the commerce power under Lopez. In addition, Section III details the legislative history of the Youth Handgun …

Judicial Discretion Is Insufficient: Minors' Due Process Right To Participate With Counsel When Divorce Custody Disputes Involve Allegations Of Child Abuse, David Peterson

Golden Gate University Law Review

This comment will illustrate how allegations of child abuse in a divorce custody dispute dramatically alter the presumption that the child's interests are well represented. Therefore, appointment of counsel for the child becomes necessary. The author first summarizes current state laws which address this issue and discusses the factors which cause discretionary appointment to fail. Next, the author demonstrates the trend of appellate court decisions and state laws toward mandatory appointment of counsel when abuse is alleged. The author then argues that mandatory appointment is necessitated by due process balancing of the child's and the government's interest. Finally, the author …

Williams V. Garcetti: The Constitutionality Of Holding Parents Criminally Liable For The Acts Of Their Children, Catherine Clements

Golden Gate University Law Review

This summary will examine California's effort to curb youth violence through the amendment of Penal Code section 272.10 California Penal Code section 272 prohibits adults from contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The amended portion of Penal Code section 272 mandates parents be held criminally liable for failing to take reasonable care to protect and control their children.

In Re Tyrell J.: Children And Their Reasonable Expectations Of Privacy, Shelley Davis

Golden Gate University Law Review

In re Tyrell J. examines the parameters of warrantless searches of juvenile probationers. In Tyrell, the California Supreme Court limited the use of the exclusionary rule as applied to unconstitutional searches. This note will discuss the history of the exclusionary rule and the probation search exceptions. The note will then examine the court's reasoning in Tyrell. The note will conclude by contending that the Tyrell majority disregarded the constitutional protections afforded adult citizens, and in effect reinterpreted the United States Supreme Court's "reasonableness standards."

Spare The Rod, Spoil The Child? A Legal Framework For Recent Corporal Punishment Proposals, Scott Bloom

Golden Gate University Law Review

This comment will highlight some of the legal concerns raised by legislative proposals advocating the introduction of corporal punishment into the American juvenile court. The comment will begin by reviewing the historical use of corporal punishment, contrasting the decline of corporal punishment in the criminal justice system with its continued use in the school system. Although the United States Supreme Court has held that school children are not entitled to the protection of the Eighth Amendment when they are paddled, the comment will contend that ordering juvenile offenders to corporal punishment must be subject to review under the Eighth and …

Learning Disabled Juveniles & Miranda Rights - What Constitutes Voluntary, Knowing, & Intelligent Waiver, Steven A. Greenburg

Golden Gate University Law Review

The specific factual issue addressed in this article is whether the federal waiver standards announced in Connelly require California courts, absent police coercion, to admit the confession of a learning disabled juvenile who waives Miranda rights yet lacks sufficient cognitive ability to understand the rights and consequences of waiving them.

Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors, Us Department Of Justice

Juvenile Justice Bulletin

No abstract provided.