Juvenile Law Commons^™

The Miller Revolution, Cara H. Drinan

Scholarly Articles

In a series of cases culminating in Miller v. Alabama, the United States Supreme Court has limited the extent to which juveniles may be exposed to the harshest criminal sentences. Scholars have addressed discrete components of these recent Court decisions, from their Eighth Amendment methodology to their effect upon state legislation. In this Article, I draw upon that scholarship to make a broader claim: the Miller trilogy has revolutionized juvenile justice. While we have begun to see only the most inchoate signs of this revolution in practice, this Article endeavors to describe what this revolution may look like both in …

Children's Rights In The Midst Of Marriage Equality: Amicus Brief In Obergefell V. Hodges By Scholars Of The Constitutional Rights Of Children, Tanya Washington, Susannah Pollvogt, Catherine Smith, Lauren Fontana

Scholarly Articles

Many scholars have called for the acknowledgement and treatment of children's rights as constitutionally protected and enforceable, and Supreme Court precedent establishes that the government may not punish children for matters beyond children's control. Same-sex marriage bans and non-recognition laws, which are collectively referred to as marriage bans, impose prohibited punishment on children for being born into, or parented by, same-sex families. States argue that marriage is the optimal familial environment for children, yet marriage bans categorically exclude an entire class of children -- children in same-sex families -- from the legal, economic, and social benefits of marriage. In response …

Juvenile Sentencing Post-Miller: Preventive And Corrective Measures, Cara H. Drinan

Scholarly Articles

At the end of the twentieth century, the United States was an international outlier in the severity of its juvenile sentencing practices despite having invented the juvenile court model one century earlier. Today, juvenile sentencing reform is underway, particularly in the wake of recent Supreme Court decisions that have cabined the states’ capacity to impose extreme sentences on juveniles. In this Article, I propose two additional reform measures that would help to rationalize the sentences imposed on children in the American criminal justice system—one on the front end of the system and one on the back end. In particular, on …

Brief Of Scholars Of The Constitutional Rights Of Children Susannah W. Pollvogt, Catherine E. Smith, And Tanya Washington As Amici Curiae In Support Of Plaintiffs-Appellants And Reversal: Robicheaux V. Caldwell, Catherine E. Smith, Tanya Washington, Susannah W. Pollvogt

Scholarly Articles

Amici are scholars and professors of family law and the law of equal protection. Amici submit this brief to respond directly to arguments advanced by the State of Louisiana that its laws prohibiting same-sex marriage2 are justified because they advance child welfare. Specifically, the State asserts that its laws advance child welfare by promoting Louisiana’s interest in: (1) linking children with their biological parents to prevent the social stigma associated with being “illegitimate” and (2) establishing the child as a member of an intact family resulting from the marriage of the mother and alleged father. These purported justifications express and …

Children As Proto-Citizens: Equal Protection, Citizenship, And Lessons From The Child-Centered Cases, Catherine E. Smith, Susannah W. Pollvogt

Scholarly Articles

The rights of children have recently taken a prominent role in the popular and judicial consciousness. This is largely due to litigation over marriage equality. In authoring the majority opinion in United States v. Windsor, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013), Justice Kennedy cited tangible and psychic harm to the children of same-sex couples as a basis for invalidating the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Post-Windsor, myriad state and federal courts similarly have recognized the manner in which state-level marriage bans inflict harm on the children of same-sex couples. Yet, while courts have recognized the significance of harm to children …

Amicus Brief In United States V. Windsor By Scholars For The Recognition Of Children's Constitutional Rights, Tanya Washington, Catherine Smith, Susannah Pollvogt

Scholarly Articles

This amicus brief filed by Scholars of the Constitutional Rights of Children in Windsor turns the spotlight on children in same-sex families. The brief enumerates the many ways Section 3 of DOMA impairs children's interests by denying federal recognition of their parents' marriages. The brief was cited in Respondent's Brief to the Supreme Court for its central thesis: children are a vulnerable demographic which deserves government action that serves their interests, not government action that impairs their interests.

The Effects Of The Lubanga Case On Understanding And Preventing Child Soldiering, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

On March 14, 2012, a trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for child-soldier-related crimes. Some months later, Lubanga was sentenced to a prison term of fourteen years. On August 7, 2012, an ICC trial chamber issued its decision regarding the principles and procedures to be applied to reparations in the Lubanga case. This Article unpacks the relationships between the Lubanga proceedings and how the international community conceptualizes, and strives to prevent, child soldiering. This Article contends that the Lubanga proceedings reinforce, and incubate, a …

Equal Protection For Children Of Same-Sex Parents, Catherine E. Smith

Scholarly Articles

Gay rights litigation and advocacy traditionally have focused on the unequal treatment of gay and lesbian individuals and couples; less attention has been dedicated explicitly to the legal rights of the children of gay and lesbian parents. This Article asserts that a child of same-sex parents denied a government benefit has a cognizable equal protection challenge—a legal claim that is separate and distinct from that of the child’s gay or lesbian parents. It is well-settled equal protection law that the government may not treat nonmarital children differently than marital children because of moral disdain for their parents’ relationship, and laws …

Child Soldiers And Clicktivism: Justice, Myths, And Prevention, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

The Kony 2012 campaign, conducted under the auspices of an American advocacy group, Invisible Children, highlighted – somewhat belatedly – the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), its leadership, and its many victims in northern Uganda, notably child soldiers. Deeper questions lurk, however, amid the breezy media flurry. How does Kony 2012 inform our understanding of child soldiers? How does it sculpt international efforts to prevent child soldiering?

The Rights Of The Child, Catherine Smith

Scholarly Articles

There are certainly upsides and downsides to pursuing the rights of children of LGBTs that must be thoroughly vetted. On one hand, a focus on the rights of children of gays and lesbians offers another avenue to push for equality by recognizing that discrimination extends to individuals because of their relationship to LGBTs, on the other hand, it may be viewed as bootstrapping or an end-run around lawful discrimination against LGBTs. On one hand, a child-centered approach to LGBT issues may contribute to the children’s rights movement, however, the same principles developed to seek recourse for these children could be …

Legal Responses To Teen Dating Violence, Stacy Brustin

Scholarly Articles

The problem of domestic violence is not limited to adult relationships. In fact, the number of teenagers involved in abusive and violent relationships is alarming. Research suggests that approximately one out of ten high school students experiences physical violence in a dating relationship.

Hostages In The ‘Hood, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

The goal of this essay is to sketch out an approach which attempts to highlight the multiplicity of interests necessarily included in, but not always identified in, debates over gang control policy. The intent is not so much to suggest a way in which to resolve these often competing interests (which would be impossible in any event), or even to attempt an exhaustive discussion of the most important ones. It is, rather, to suggest that a feel for context and a sense of proportion is or ought to be critical in all discussions of gang control policy.

An Analysis Of Realistic Due Process Rights Of Children Versus Parents, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

The purpose of this Article is to analyze the Santosky presupposition and demonstrate why it is misdirected. In particular, the Article posits that the clear and convincing standard adopted by the Court deprives the child of his or her due process rights. The minimum standard should be reduced to at least one of preponderance of the evidence. Such a standard would recognize the so-called parental presumption, i.e. the historical preference given to parents, but give greater recognition to the rights of the child.

This Article examines the due process concerns of parent and child from both a legal and a …

Children And The Idea Of Liberty: A Comment On The Civil Commitment Cases, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

Despite all the talk about the rights of children in the past few years, it has not often been necessary to parse conflicting claims by parents and children, and to give independent constitutional content to the latter. Before 1979, the Supreme Court had reached the merits in only one case presenting that issue. The problem will arise whenever the state lends its aid to the parents in a familial dispute, and in time will doubtless provoke litigation in which outnumbered children claim the benefit of most of the Bill of Rights. Until now, debate has focused on the procedural and …

Children And The First Amendment, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

If children possess moral and political rights against the state, theories about these rights have scarcely progressed beyond first principles. The state must retain power to regulate education and some aspects of family life. Parents sometimes have a final say concerning what a child may do and experience. Professor Garvey offers an account of the way in which these and other realities shape the child's rights of free expression under the first amendment.

Parens Patriae: From Chancery To The Juvenile Court, Doug Rendleman

Scholarly Articles

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