Law Commons^™

What Should Law Enforcement Role Be In Addressing Quality Of Life Issues Associated With Section 8 Housing?, D'Andre D. Lampkin

D'Andre Devon Lampkin

The purpose of this research project is to discuss the challenges law enforcement face when attempting to address quality of life issues for residents residing in and around Section 8 federal housing. The paper introduces readers to the purpose of Section 8 housing, the process in which residents choose subsidized housing, and the legal challenges presented when law enforcement agencies are assisting city government to address quality of life issues. For purposes of this research project, studies were sampled to illustrate where law enforcement participation worked and where law enforcement participation leads to unintended legal ramifications.

The Hidden Psychology Of Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Tonja Jacobi, Jesse-Justin Cuevas

Tonja Jacobi

There is vast empirical evidence of the difference in men and women’s perceptions of and responses to police authority, their speech patterns and conduct. Yet these differences are rarely reflected in constitutional criminal procedure law, despite many of its rules hinging on a person’s manner of expression or subtleties of behavior. Similar evidence exists for the systematic impact of juvenile status and intellectual disability, but only modest and ad hoc consideration has been given to these factors. The result is that the “reasonable person” is actually implicitly a white male, adult and able-minded. His speech and conduct are treated as …

Abandoning The Status Quo: Towards Uniform Application Of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Gregory Catangay

Gregory Catangay

The accompanying Article identifies and analyzes the causes of unequal application of the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) program and argues for a federal takeover of the program. The Article highlights the current immigration crisis and the plight of unaccompanied minors seeking a better life in the United States. These minors may be eligible for permanent legal status in the United States through the SIJS program. Although SIJS is a federal remedy, variations in state law and interpretation of SIJS requirements exclude eligible minors.

In order to be eligible for the SIJS program, a state trial court must find that …

Departing From Teague: Miller V. Alabama's Invitation To The States To Experiment With New Retroactivity Standards, Eric Schab

Eric Schab

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Effective Advocacy For Children In Abuse And Neglect Proceedings, Suparna Malempati

Suparna Malempati

This article addresses ethical dilemmas lawyers face when representing children in abuse and neglect proceedings in juvenile court. Children in such cases need traditional advocacy in order to protect their legal rights and effectuate just outcomes. Lawyers who represent children have an ethical obligation to perform this function as advocates for their clients and not merely as guardians ad litem who make paternalistic recommendations about the best interests of children. The requirement that lawyers disregard their role as advocates for the role of guardians ad litem circumvents the ethical rules that govern lawyers and fails to adequately and effectively safeguard …

Homeschooling As A Constitutional Right: A Claim Under A Close Look At Meyer And Pierce And The Lochner-Based Assumptions They Made About State Regulatory Power, David M. Wagner

David N. Wagner

In 2012, a German family of would-be homeschoolers, the Romeikes, fled to the U.S. to escape fines and child removal for this practice, which has been illegal in Germany since 1938. The Sixth Circuit, in denying their asylum request, conspicuously did not slam the door on the possibility that if the Romeikes were U.S. citizens, they might have a right to homeschool. This article takes up that question, and argues that Meyer and Pierce, the classic cases constitutionalizing the right to use private schools, point beyond those holdings towards a right to homeschool; and that the permissible state regulations on …

Denying Freedom Rather Than Securing The Country: National Security Is Undermined By Laws Governing Battered Immigrants, Eve Tilley-Coulson

Eve Tilley-Coulson

Relief for battered immigrants is not an obvious national security matter per se, yet remedies are enacted in conjunction with stringent interpretations of immigration law, as though victims pose a security threat. Discrepancies exist between the immigration laws themselves—which attempt to secure the United States from disease, violence, and illegal activity—and the loopholes found within remedies under these laws, unnecessarily removing victims and perpetuating a cycle of fear and abuse. This paper addresses how relief for battered immigrants, when implemented with the priority of protecting national security and immigration legislation, creates and perpetuates negative societal consequences. The economic and societal …

Position Of Authority Statutes In Athletic Programs: A Proposed Roadmap For The Model Penal Code Revisions In Response To Jerry Sandusky, Casey Schwab

Casey Schwab

Jerry Sandusky, in an interview with Bob Costas on NBC’s “Rock Center,” admitted to “horsing around” while showering with young boys. He denied any sexual misconduct despite this admission. Since his admission of “horseplay” but denial of sexual abuse, the American public has been calling for a broad statutory rule barring adult coaches from being present while young athletes are in the shower. The majority of the current relevant literature examines the consequences that follow once coaches are already convicted of sexual abuse – not how their convictions were reached. The cases in which a coach is accused of sexual …

Women At The Forefront: An Examination Of The Disproportionate Exposure Of Mothers To Liability Under Parental Responsibility Laws, Portia Allen-Kyle

Portia Allen-Kyle

This Note discusses the social and legislative affinity for parental responsibility laws in response to juvenile delinquency and victimization and examines the discriminatory impact of such laws on mothers. This Note argues two-fold that: 1) the mere existence of parental responsibility statutes perpetuates “mother blaming” and disproportionately exposes mothers to liability and are thus discriminatory in their effect, and 2) the use of vicarious, strict liability for parents is ineffective and inappropriate in affecting juvenile behavior. Section I provides a discussion about the history of parental responsibility laws and argue the symbolic purpose of many parental responsibility laws. Section II …

Which Is Greater: The Right To Parent Or The Rights Of A Parent? The Legal And Ethical Quandaries When A Minor Child Diagnosed With Cancer Wishes To Utilize Oocyte Cryopreservation And Advanced Reproductive Technology For Future Procreation., Jessica M. Hallgren

Jessica M Hallgren

No abstract provided.

Caught In A Trap - Paternity Presumptions In Louisiana, Evelyn L. Wilson

Evelyn L. Wilson

This article takes a critical look at revisions to Louisiana's 2005 law on presumptions of paternity and advocates for a change so that the presumptions more often reflects the reality that a child born during a later marriage is the child of the mother's current husband and not the child of the mother's former husband, as the 2005 law now presumes.

A Decade Of Progress: Promising Models For Children Found In The Turkish Juvenile Justice System, Brenda A. Mckinney, Lauren Salins

Brenda A McKinney

Turkey has improved its approach to interacting with children in conflict with the law over the past decade, moving closer to a system that ensures its children the opportunity to strive for a better future. This Article focuses on two promising Turkish reforms that hold potential to improve juvenile justice systems internationally, namely: open model incarceration and Turkey’s approach to diversion. This Article demonstrates how a child-centered juvenile justice system can improve public safety and outcomes for youth. It also addresses potential challenges to each model and identifies broader issues that may require reform.

Do California’S Teacher Tenure Laws Violate California’S Constitutional Right To Education, Allen W. Hubsch

Allen W Hubsch

The accompanying note addresses an important and topical issue. In May 2012, Ted Olson, the former Solicitor General of the United States, and Theodore Boutrous, co-chair of the appellate practice at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court, entitled Vargara v. California, naming the State of California, the California Department of Education, the Los Angeles Unified School District and others as defendants.

The complaint alleges that California’s teacher tenure statutes are unconstitutional under the California constitution because such laws have the effect of preventing school districts from providing a quality education to school age …

Against Juvenile Sex Offender Registration, Catherine L. Carpenter

Catherine L Carpenter

Against Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Catherine L. Carpenter* Abstract Imagine if you were held accountable the rest of your life for something you did as a child? This is the Child Scarlet Letter in force: kids who commit criminal sexual acts and who pay the price with the burdens and stigma of sex offender registration. And in a game of “how low can you go?,” states have forced children as young as nine and ten years old onto sex offender registries, some with registration requirements that extend the rest of their lives. It is both unremarkable and true that children …

Statutory Presumption Of Domestic Batterers’ Unfitness As Parents: Lessons From Jordan V. Jordan, Kyle S. Karpowicz

Kyle S Karpowicz

This casenote analyzes the background and consequences 2011 D.C. Appellate Circuit decision of Jordan v. Jordan. This decision affirmed a lower court which found that though a statutory presumption of unfitness on the part of the father due to a finding of domestic violence, the presumption was rebutted and joint custody was awarded. The procedural elements of the statute and the decision are scrutinized, as well as how the decision comports with public policy and the legislative intent behind the statute.

A Decade Of Progress: Promising Models For Children In The Turkish Juvenile Justice System, Brenda Mckinney, Lauren Salins

Brenda A McKinney

In the past decade, Turkey has improved its approach to dealing with children in conflict with the law and moved the country closer to a system that ensures all children have the chance they deserve to strive for a better future. This paper focuses on two promising reforms that have been instituted in Turkey and that have the potential for improving juvenile justice systems in the rest of the world. They are: 1) open model incarceration and 2) diversion. While this paper also addresses challenges inherent in these models and discusses broader issues in the Turkish juvenile justice system that …

Protecting The Innocent With A Premium For Child Safety Regulations, Jacob P. Byl

Jacob P. Byl

Federal agencies regulate many products and activities that impact the safety of children. When conducting an economic analysis of a proposed rule, agencies should put a premium on saving the lives of children when analyzing the costs and benefits of regulation. This Article uses original evidence from the infant car seat market to determine that a child-specific benefit measure should be one and a half to two times that of an adult.

Mandatory Reporting Of Abuse: A Historical Perspective On The Evolution Of States’ Current Mandatory Reporting Laws With A Review Of The Laws In The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, Leonard G. Brown Iii

Leonard G Brown III

Mandatory Reporting of Abuse: A Historical Perspective on the Evolution of States’ Current Mandatory Reporting Laws with a Review of the Laws in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

The first states passed laws in 1963, following the publishing of a seminal article titled, “The Battered Child Syndrome.” By 1967, all fifty states had passed some form of mandatory reporting law. The federal government’s first major foray into the area of child abuse prevention occurred on January 31, 1974, when Congress enacted the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (“CAPTA”). CAPTA has no federal mandatory reporting provision, but rather requires states to …

A Shot In Arm: Can Chemical Castration Statutes Cure Sex Offenders Legally And Ethically?, Robert Watters

Robert Watters

At least seven states currently have sex offender castration statutes. This article examines the legal and ethical appropriateness of those statutes against the successful and unsuccessful European models.

Kids, Counsel And Costs: An Empirical Study Of Indigent Defense Services In The Los Angeles Juvenile Delinquency Courts, Cyn Yamashiro

cyn yamashiro

In the landmark case In re Gault, the Supreme Court guaranteed juveniles virtually all of the criminal due process rights previously granted to adults. Arguably the most vital of those rights is the right to competent counsel. Scholars have studied how systems provide legal counsel and have questioned the use of certain models to provide defense services. Los Angeles County utilizes two distinct models for the provision of defense services: a contract-panel attorney model and a public defender office. This study looks at data from over 2,800 juvenile court case files from the Los Angeles juvenile courts and asks the …

The Mandatory Meaning Of Miller, William W. Berry Iii

William W Berry III

In June 2012, the United States Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama that the imposition of mandatory life-without-parole sentences on juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual” punishment. This case continued the Supreme Court’s slow but steady expansion of the scope of the Eighth Amendment over the past decade. In light of the Court’s decision in Miller to preclude mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles, this article explores the possibility of further expansion of the Eighth Amendment to proscribe other kinds of mandatory sentences. Applying the approach of the Court in Miller to other …

Disparate Protections For American Human Trafficking Victims, Amanda J. Peters

Amanda J Peters

The United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000. It was the first piece of legislation to address human trafficking. Since that time, the United States has monitored anti-trafficking efforts worldwide. Nations that fail to meet minimum standards set by the United States risk losing non-humanitarian financial aid from the federal government, the International Monetary Fund, and global banks. Yet, these minimum standards are not met by the United States when it comes to protecting American trafficking victims.

According to the TVPA, governments shall attempt to prevent human trafficking, punish traffickers, and protect people who have been …

Of Testing And Tablespoons: Evaluating The Use Of Student Test Scores For Teacher Assessment, Daniel Straw

Daniel Straw

This note argues that the use of student test scores as a significant part of teacher evaluations has no rational basis in law, and therefore the government should instead focus on performance-based assessments and take steps to elevate the status of teaching as a profession.

16 And Pregnant: Minors' Consent To Abortion And Adoption, Malinda L. Seymore

Malinda L. Seymore

A minor girl’s decision about the resolution of an unplanned pregnancy is a highly contested issue. Especially contentious is the minor’s ability to consent to an abortion without the assistance of an adult such as her parents or a judge. That issue has received substantial attention from policy makers, scholars, judges and legislators. Almost no attention has been paid, however, to the decision of a minor parent to continue her pregnancy, relinquish her constitutionally-protected parental rights and place a child for adoption. In 37 states, a minor’s abortion decision is regulated differently from the decision of an adult’s, while in …

In Search Of Federal Remedies For Lgbtq Students Who Are Victims Of Assault And Harassment In School., Jerry R. Foxhoven Mr.

Jerry R. Foxhoven Mr.

This article describes details of the harassment that was inflicted upon the individual LGBTQ students involved in many of the federal reported cases, as well as the lack of response by, and sometimes even the participation of, school personnel in the harassment. The article then goes on to examine the various legal theories that were employed by the victim-students, including constitutional theories (Due Process, Equal Protection, and First Amendment claims) as well as statutory remedies (Title IX and the Equal Access Act).

This article is written in a format that is not only interesting (by providing the details of the …

To Testify Or Not To Testify: The Dilemma Facing Children With Multiple Cases Before The Same Judge In Delinquency Court., Katherine I. Puzone

Katherine I. Puzone

In Juvenile Court, children often have more than one case pending, especially children living in group foster homes and those at alternative schools. In many jurisdictions, all of a child’s cases are assigned to the same judge. If the child is arrested at a later time, the new case is also assigned to the same judge. That means that if a child exercises her right to go to trial in each case, the same judge will hear every case. If they are set for trial on the same day, and they often are, the judge will hear each case in …

Beyond Law Enforcement: Camreta V. Greene, Child Protection Investigations, And The Need To Reform The Fourth Amendment Special Needs Doctrine, Josh Gupta-Kagan

Josh Gupta-Kagan

The Fourth Amendment “special needs” doctrine distinguishes between searches and seizures that serve the “normal need for law enforcement” and those that serve some other “special need,” excusing non-law enforcement searches and seizures from the warrant and probable cause requirements. The Supreme Court has never justified drawing this bright line exclusively around law enforcement searches and seizures but not those that threaten important non-criminal constitutional rights.

Child protection investigations illustrate the problem: Millions of times each year, state child protection authorities search families’ homes, and seize children for interviews about alleged maltreatment. Only a minority of these investigations involve an …

No State Actor Left Behind: Rethinking Section 1983 Liability In The Context Of Disciplinary Alternative Schools And Beyond, Emily Chiang

Emily Chiang

In an era in which seemingly no institutions are immune from privatization, determining the boundaries of state action has never been more important. This Article seeks to clarify the doctrine of state action as applied to publicly-funded, privately-run institutions serving individuals involuntarily placed there by the state. It does so by using disciplinary alternative schools as a classic example of one such institution, wherein the individuals served have constitutional rights that are both particularly vulnerable to infringement and which cannot be vindicated without a finding of state action. In particular, the Article (1) introduces the phenomena of disciplinary alternative schools …

Cruel And Unusual Punishment: Adult Prison For Florida's Children, Mary E. Day

Mary E. Day

The manuscript addresses whether Florida law comports with the recent Supreme Court of the United States holding in Graham v. Florida that sentencing a nonhomicide juvenile offender to life without parole constitutes cruel and unusual punishment since such a punishment lacks opportunities for the youth to rehabilitate and reform. The manuscript asserts that consequently, Florida laws allowing for the direct filing of juvenile offenders such that they are subject to incarceration in adult prisons will not likely withstand a constitutional challenge as long as Florida's juveniles are denied opportunities for reform.

The Constitutionality Of Missouri Protective Statutes Of Child Abuse Victim Testimony In Criminal Trials, Vanessa Marie Starke Ms.

Vanessa Marie Starke Ms.

The Supreme Court decision in Iowa v. Coy and its subsequent holding in Maryland v. Craig found that the confrontation clause of the United States Constitution, like other rights, is not absolute. The Court determined that in some circumstances and under certain procedural conditions, a state’s interest in protecting a child abuse victim might permit the child to testify via video deposition. The cases were in reaction to the passage in many states of protective statutes allowing for such procedures in child-abuse prosecutions.

Missouri is one of the states that had passed such statutes prior to the Supreme Court decisions …