Juvenile Law Commons^™

Legal Images Of Fatherhood: Welfare Reform, Child Support Enforcement, And Fatherless Children, Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article analyzes the issue of paternity disestablishment, an issue courts and legislatures have been struggling with over the last several years. For a variety of reasons explored in this Article, an increasing number of fathers have filed requests to set aside paternity orders seeking to be relieved of the legal obligations of fatherhood. As a result families have been destabilized and children are becoming fatherless. The implications for the future of the family are profound. Although some scholars have examined this phenomenon, none have addressed the link between paternity disestablishment and welfare reform.

This Article explores the law's evolving …

Denying Child Welfare Services To Delinquent Teens: A Call To Return To The Roots Of Illinois' Juvenile Court, Jeffrey M. Y. Hammer

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Federal Child Welfare Law And Policy: Understanding The Federal Law And Funding Process., Miriam Rollin, Frank Vandervort, Ann M. Haralambie

Book Chapters

This chapter provides an overview of federal and uniform statutes that impact the practice of child welfare law.

Reforming Juvenile Delinquency Treatment To Enhance Rehabilitation, Personal Accountability And Public Safety, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article describes the widespread violence, beatings and other abuse the U.S. Justice Department has found in its inspections of several state juvenile detention facilities. The article then discusses Missouri's Division of Youth Services (DYS), which is widely considered the national model of sound practices. The article concludes with recommendations for national reform.

Bad Children Or A Bad System: Problems In Federal Interpretation Of A Delinquent's Prior Record In Determining The Appropriateness Of A Discretionary Judicial Waiver, Jessica L. Anders

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

For The Well-Being Of Minnesota’S Foster Children: What Federal Legislation Requires, Gail Chang Bohr

William Mitchell Law Review

This article will discuss the federal legislation and regulations—ASFA and CFSR—that hold the states accountable for the health and well-being of children and adolescents in foster care. This article will also discuss how the Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program, the comprehensive health care services that states are required to provide through Medicaid, is used to address the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents in foster care. Critical to a discussion on the well-being of foster youth is the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 that emphasized the states’ responsibility to ensure that youth in foster …

Molloy V. Meier Extends Genetic Counseling Duty Of Care To Biological Mcclain Parents And Establishes That Legal Damages Must Occur Before A Wrongful Conception Action Accrues For Statute Of Limitations Purposes, Mark Hallberg, Teresa Fariss

William Mitchell Law Review

Inherited genetic disorders are a well-known cause of developmental delays in children. It is, therefore, “foreseeable” to physicians treating developmentally delayed children that parents of these children will rely on the physicians’ opinions of whether a genetic cause exists. Accordingly in 1992, when Dr. Diane Meier, a pediatrician, discovered developmental delays in S.F., the three-year-old daughter of Kimberly Flomer (now Molloy) and Robert Flomer, “accepted standards of pediatric practice” required Dr. Meier to order genetic testing, including testing for Fragile X Syndrome, one of the most common causes of inherited mental retardation. The foreseeable consequences of Dr. Meier’s alleged failure …

Juvenile Execution, Terrorist Extradition, And Supreme Court Discretion To Consider International Death Penalty Jurisprudence, Elizabeth Burleson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Capitalizing Adolescence: Juvenile Offenders On Death Row, Mary Berkheiser

Scholarly Works

Taking as its sample group the 2005 population of seventy-two juvenile offenders on death row, this article examines the roles of peer influence and group offending in the murders committed by those now awaiting execution. Based on that examination, the article suggests certain reforms in the capital trials of juveniles. To set the stage, the article first marshals the evidence supporting the “group crime” theory of youth violence and then discusses the critical role of peers in adolescent development and group offending of a violent crime.

Justice Miriam Shearing: Nevada's Trailblazing Minimalist, Mary E. Berkheiser

Scholarly Works

Nevada Supreme Court Justice Miriam Shearing retired at the end of her second term on January 4, 2005. Over the nearly thirty years of her very public life on the bench, many have written of her accomplishments as the firs woman to enter the brotherhood of the Nevada judiciary. With Justice Sharing’s retirement, the time is ripe for an examination of her judicial decisions during the twelve years she served on the Nevada Supreme Court. The analysis here provides one perspective on her body of work. It begins, as it must, with a glimpse into the person behind the work.

Between Dependency And Liberty: The Conundrum Of Children’S Rights In The Gilded Age, David S. Tanenhaus

Scholarly Works

Although legal scholars often assume that the history of children's rights in the United States did not begin until the mid twentieth century, this essay argues that a sophisticated conception of children's rights existed a century earlier, and analyzes how lawmakers articulated it through their attempts to define the rights of dependent children. How to handle their cases raised fundamental questions about whether children were autonomous beings or the property of either their parents and/or the state. And, if the latter, what were the limits of parental authority and/or the power of the state acting as a parent? By investigating …

Comments: Holding Clergy Accountable: Maryland Should Require Clergy To Report Suspected Child Abuse, Caroline E. Law Miller

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Loyalty, Paternalism, And Rights: Client Counseling Theory And The Role Of Child's Counsel In Delinquency Cases, Kristin N. Henning

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article seeks to identify an attorney-child framework that will (1) give substantive meaning to the child's constitutional right to counsel in delinquency cases, (2) satisfy the ethical mandates of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, (3) have the flexibility to accommodate cognitive limitations while enhancing the decisionmaking capacity of children and adolescents, and (4) engage parents in various aspects of the delinquency case without compromising the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship or sacrificing the fundamental rights, dignity, and autonomy of the child client.

The Ultimate Best Interest Of The Child Enures From Parental Reinforcement: The Journey To Family Integrity, John C. Duncan Jr.

Journal Publications

Most Americans agree that we are in the midst of a dangerous decline in moral and religious values that threatens the very foundation of our society. The facts are clear: marriage as a social institution is threatened and child well-being is affected. Part II of this Article traces the best interest of the child doctrine. Part III examines what the legally recognized rights of parents have been in the past and shows how those rights have been threatened or altogether eradicated in the best interest of the child. Part IV evaluates the opposing positions of both parental rights advocates …

(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 …

Crawford V. Washington: The Admissibility Of Statements To Physicians And The Use Of Closed-Circuit Television In Cases Of Child Sexual Abuse, Jon Simon Stefanuca

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Developmental Trajectories Of Legal Socialization Among Serious Adolescent Offenders, Alex R. Piquero, Jeffery Fagan, Edward P. Mulvey, Laurence Steinberg, Candice Odgers

Faculty Scholarship

Legal socialization is the process through which individuals acquire attitudes and beliefs about the law, legal authorities, and legal institutions. This occurs through individuals' interactions, both personal and vicarious, with police, courts, and other legal actors. To date, most of what is known about legal socialization comes from studies of individual differences among adults in their perceived legitimacy of law and legal institutions, and in their cynicism about the law and its underlying norms. This work shows that adults' attitudes about the legitimacy of law are directly tied to individuals' compliance with the law and cooperation with legal authorities. Despite …

Legal Socialization Of Children And Adolescents, Jeffrey Fagan, Tom Tyler

Faculty Scholarship

Research on children and the law has recently renewed its focus on the development of children's ties to law and legal actors. We identify the developmental process through which these relations develop as legal socialization, a process that unfolds during childhood and adolescence as part of a vector of developmental capital that promotes compliance with the law and cooperation with legal actors. In this paper, we show that ties to the law and perceptions of law and legal actors among children and adolescents change over time and age. We show that neighborhood contexts and experiences with legal actors shape the …

Privacy And The Criminal Arrestee Or Suspect: In Search Of A Right, In Need Of A Rule, Sadiq Reza

Articles & Chapters

Criminal accusation stigmatizes. Merely having been accused of a crime lasts in the public eye, damaging one's reputation and threatening current and future employment, relationships, social status, and more. But vast numbers of criminal cases are dismissed soon after arrest, and countless accusations are unfounded orunprovable. Nevertheless, police officers and prosecutors routinely name criminal accusees to the public upon arrest or suspicion, with no obligation to publicize a defendant's exoneration, or the dismissal of his case, or a decision not to file charges against him at all. Other individuals caught up in the criminal process enjoy protections against the public …

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Envisioning Second-Order Change In America's Responses To Troubled And Troublesome Youth, Lois A. Weithorn

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Developmental Incompetence, Due Process, And Juvenile Justice Policy, Elizabeth S. Scott, Thomas Grisso

Faculty Scholarship

In 2003, the Florida District Court of Appeal reversed the murder conviction and life sentence imposed on Lionel Tate, who was twelve years old when he killed his six-year-old neighbor. Since Lionel was reported to be the youngest person in modern times to be sent to prison for life, the case had generated considerable debate, and the decision was appealed on several grounds. What persuaded the appellate court that the conviction could not stand, however, was the trial court's rejection of a petition by Lionel's attorney for an evaluation of his client's competence to assist counsel and to make a …

Student Freedom Of Expression: Violent Content And The Safe School Balance, A. Wayne Mackay, Janet Burt-Gerrans

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The authors begin with a discussion of of the duality in how children are viewed in both international and domestic law. Children are viewed as both under the protection and authority of adults, at the same time as being rights bearing individuals. Following recognition of the difficult tension created by this duality, these authors focus on its application in the balancing of the safe school environment with student freedom of expression. In particular these authors examine cases and scenarios that highlight the complex relationships that result when student expression contains violent content. This timely examination gives consideration to the contemporary …

Results Of A Judicial Survey On The Maryland Department Of Juvenile Services, Gloria Danziger, Barbara A. Babb

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Time To Decide? The Laws Governing Mothers' Consents To The Adoption Of Their Newborn Infants, Elizabeth Samuels

All Faculty Scholarship

Adoption in the United States is a complex patchwork of law and practice that involves payments of nearly two billion dollars annually in fees and expenses. The adoptions that involve domestically born, voluntarily placed infants raise unique issues. In these as in all adoptions involving parental consent, two generally accepted goals of ethical and humane practice are first, avoiding unnecessary separation of families by ensuring that birth parents make informed and deliberate decisions and second, protecting the finality of placements. The two goals are ideally complementary, but in the case of domestic infant adoptions, there is a danger that pressure …

The Decline Of The Juvenile Death Penalty: Scientific Evidence Of Evolving Norms, Jeffery Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Atkins v. Virginia holding that the execution of mentally retarded persons violated the Eighth Amendment, legal scholars, advocates, and journalists began to speculate that the Court would next turn its attention to the question of the execution of persons who were juveniles – below eighteen years of age – at the time they committed homicide. Following the Atkins decision, four Justices expressed the view that the rationale of Atkins also supported the conclusion that execution of juvenile offenders was unconstitutional. A constitutional test of capital punishment for juveniles was inevitable. …

Complexity Of School-Police Relationships Challenge Special Needs Doctrine, Joshua Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Scholarship

On November 5, 2003, concern regarding suspected drug activity led to a massive police search of Stratford High School in the Berkeley School District, north of Charleston, South Carolina. (See Police, School District Defend Drug Raid, available at http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/11/07/school.raid/index.html.) Fourteen police officers assumed strategic positions inside and outside the school. Accompanied by a drug-sniffing clog, officers. Some with guns drawn, secured a school hallway and ordered more than I 00 students to get on their knees and face the wall, handcuffing at least 12 who failed to immediately obey the police orders. Alerted by the clog. police physically searched students, …

The Effectiveness Of Juvenile Correctional Facilities: Public Versus Private Management, Patrick J. Bayer, David Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

This paper uses data on juvenile offenders released from correctional facilities in Florida to explore the effects of facility management type (private for-profit, private nonprofit, public state-operated, and public county-operated) on recidivism outcomes and costs. The data provide detailed information on individual characteristics, criminal and correctional histories, judge-assigned restrictiveness levels, and home zip codes — allowing us to control for the nonrandom assignment of individuals to facilities far better than any previous study. Relative to all other management types, for-profit management leads to a statistically significant increase in recidivism, but relative to nonprofit and state-operated facilities, for-profit facilities operate at …

Privacy And The Criminal Arrestee Or Suspect: In Search Of A Right, In Need Of A Rule, Sadiq Reza

Faculty Scholarship

Criminal accusation stigmatizes. Merely having been accused of a crime lasts in the public eye, damaging one's reputation and threatening current and future employment, relationships, social status, and more. But vast numbers of criminal cases are dismissed soon after arrest, and countless accusations are unfounded or unprovable. Nevertheless, police officers and prosecutors routinely name criminal accusees to the public upon arrest or suspicion, with no obligation to publicize a defendant's exoneration, or the dismissal of his case, or a decision not to file charges against him at all. Other individuals caught up in the criminal process enjoy protections against the …