Juvenile Law Commons^™

Disrobe Dot Com For The Aclu: Ashcroft V. Aclu, A Strict Scrutiny Review For The Child Online Protection Act, Roger W. Stepp

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Juvenile Diversion: Results Of A Three Year Experimental Study, Steven Patrick, Robert Marsh

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In a three year longitudinal study of first time juvenile status offenders assigned at random to three treatment groups and a control group, no significant differences were found in recidivism rates among the groups. A total of 398 juveniles in this study were cited for offenses of tobacco or alcohol in a medium-sized metropolitan northwest city. The offenders were assigned at random to four groups: a traditional magistrate court, a traditional Youth Court diversion program, a new non-judicial diversion program and a control group. None of the groups including the control group showed a significant difference in recidivism rates. It …

Induced Autism The Legal And Ethical Implications Of Inoculating Vaccine Manufacturers From Liability, Helia Garrido Hull

Faculty Scholarship

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.

Paying The Price For Our Children’S Torts: Exploring Parental Liability Statutes Employed In The South, John Kevin Phillips

ExpressO

The accompanying manuscript explores the historical foundations for the common law imposition of liability upon parents for their child’s torts. The manuscript explores the adoption of the common law rules by Southern states with the exception of Louisiana and illustrates the different approaches employed in the common law versus the civil code. The manuscript then explores the growth of parental liability statutes and the alarming trend towards raising the amount of compensation even to unlimited liability coupled with almost strict liability in some Southern states.

Parental liability statutes continue to grow in importance and controversy. The present manuscript is especially …

Does The Tax Law Discriminate Against The Majority Of American Children: The Downside Of Our Progressive Rate Structure And Unbalanced Incentives For Higher Education?, Lester B. Snyder

University of San Diego Law and Economics Research Paper Series

Our graduate income tax structure provides an incentive to shift income to lower-bracket family members. However, some parents have much more latitude to shift income to their children than do others. Income derived from services and private business-by far the majority of American income-is less favored than income derived from publicly traded securities. The rationale given for this discrimination is that parents in services or private business, as opposed to those in securities, do not actually part with control of their property. This article explores these tax broader (yet subtle) tax benefits and their impact on the majority of children …

The Rave Act: A Specious Solution To The Serious Problem Of Increased Ecstasy Distribution Within The United States That Is Unconstitutionally Overbroad, Erin Treacy

ExpressO

The RAVE Act amends the 1986 "Crackhouse Statute" on the assumption that electronic music concerts are comparable to crackhouses. This article submits that the rationale behind the former Crackhouse statute does not logically support the RAVE Act and that the new law, as enacted, is unconstitutionally overbroad, infringing upon First Amendment rights. This article shows that the “rave culture,” its associated drug use and electronic music performances (sometimes known as raves) are not inextricably linked. The article also explores policy arguments that may be asserted against the RAVE Act and provides suggestions on how to amend the existing statute to …

Achieving Batterer Accountability In The Child Protection System, Leigh Goodmark

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

“Which One Of You Did It?” Criminal Liability For “Causing Or Allowing” The Death Of A Child, Lissa Griffin

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

International Child Abductions: The Challenges Facing America , Charles F. Hall

ExpressO

International child abductors often escape domestic law enforcement and disappear without consequence or resolution. International child abductions occur too frequently; in the United States alone, the number of children abducted abroad every year has risen to over 1,000. Currently, 11,000 American children live abroad with their abductors. These abductions occur despite international treaties and the Congressional resolutions that have significantly stiffened the penalties for those caught. Effectively combating international child abductions requires drafting resolutions that are acceptable across the diverse societies and cultures of the international community. Without such resolutions to fill the gaps of current treaties this problem will …

When Daddy Doesn't Want To Be Daddy Anymore: An Argument Against Paternity Fraud Claims, Melanie B. Jacobs

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Foster Care Placement: Reducing The Risk Of Sibling Incest, David J. Herring

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Immaturity, Normative Competence, And Juvenile Transfer: How (Not) To Punish Minors For Major Crimes, David O. Brink

ExpressO

This essay critically examines the national trend to get tough on juvenile crime by making it easier to transfer juvenile offenders to adult criminal court. It assesses this trend in light of different rationales for punishment, arguing that immaturity provides retributive, deterrent, and corrective reasons to punish juvenile crime differently than otherwise similar adult crime. Insofar as retributive concepts determine whom to punish and how much to punish, it is especially important that immaturity involves diminished normative competence and, hence, diminished responsibility. In defending a traditional approach to juvenile criminal justice against the reforms embodied in the transfer trend, the …

Public Access To Juvenile Dependency Proceedings In Washington State: An Important Piece Of The Permanency Puzzle, Sara Vanmeter

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that the Washington State legislature took an important step along the road to permanency for abused and neglected children in the state's care when it revised its Juvenile Court Act in 2003. This Act created the presumption that dependency proceedings are open to the public unless a judge determines that excluding the public is in the best interest of the child. This change in Washington state law represents one piece of the puzzle of reforms necessary to reach permanency goals for children in our child welfare system. Those states whose juvenile dependency hearings remainclosed should now consider …

"Which One Of You Did It? Criminal Liability For "Causing Or Allowing" The Death Of A Child, Lissa Griffin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes how current U.S. criminal law addresses the problem of securing a homicide conviction where multiple defendants are accused in a child's non-accidental death. Part III sets forth the English response: a statute that includes (1) a new substantive crime; (2) a permissible negative inference against a defendant who fails to account for the non-accidental death of a child for whom he or she is responsible; and (3) delay of a motion to dismiss for failure to establish a prima facie case until after the defense has been presented or the jury has been allowed to draw the …

Delinquency Jurisdiction In A Unified Family Court: Balancing Intervention, Prevention, And Adjudication, Gloria Danziger

All Faculty Scholarship

This article will examine the demographics of the current juvenile delinquency caseloads and will argue that, despite trends toward greater punitive measures-including placement of juveniles in adult courts for certain offenses, the concept of a therapeutic "family-centered court," which inspired Jane Addams and her colleagues, remains the most promising approach to delinquency, articulated most notably by the proponents of the unified family court concept. The article will consider and address objections and concerns raised with respect to this approach, looking at ways in which several states have incorporated juvenile delinquency into a family-centered unified family court.

Children Of Color With Mental Health Problems: Stuck In All The Wrong Places, Susan P. Leviton

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Gender Gap: Treatment Of Girls In The U.S. Juvenile Justice System, Ossai Miazad

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Sierra Leone’S Search For Justice And Accountability Of Child Soldiers, Ismene Zarifis

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

So Young And So Untender: Remorseless Children And The Expectations Of The Law, Martha Grace Duncan

Faculty Articles

A nine-year-old speaks with apparent callousness as he walks by the body of the girl he has killed. A fourteen-year-old jokes about "body parts in her pocket" after bashing in her mother's head with a candlestick holder. And a fifteen-year-old laughingly names his accomplice ''Homicide" after participating in a robbery that culminated in the victim's death. Seemingly remorseless acts such as these can have a crucial impact on the way a child or adolescent fares in the juvenile justice or criminal system. Yet, when one looks closely at what the courts interpret as indicators of remorselessness -- ­taking into account …

Minors In Haiti's Prisons , Ismene Zarifis

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

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 …

Five Murdered Street Children In Guatemala: A Precedent Before The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights, Selina Kossen

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Health Care Access For Children With Disabilities, Linda C. Fentiman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In the last twenty-five years, we have seen a remarkable evolution in attitudes and practice toward the treatment of children with disabilities. Children born with severe physical and mental anomalies are no longer routinely allowed to die. Many such children, along with those who become disabled later in childhood through illness or injury, receive aggressive life-saving medical treatment as well as continuing medical and habilitative care. Some children, particularly those whose families are affluent, receive substantial therapeutic and other supportive services that permit them to overcome their disabilities and function effectively in school and, later, at work.

Proportionality And Punishment: Imposing Life Without Parole On Juveniles, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

The Eighth Amendment provides that “no cruel and unusual punishment shall be inflicted.” The Supreme Court has interpreted to this to mean a punishment cannot be “grossly disproportionate” to the crime. In this article, the author addresses whether an offender's age should play a role in assessing whether a sentence is “grossly disproportionate.” Specifically, the author addresses the increasingly common practice of imposing life without parole on offenders who are under sixteen years of age at the time they committed their offense, and whether such offenders’ youthful status should play a role in proportionality analysis. The article first provides an …

Second Hand Smoke And Child Custody Determinations--A Relevant Factor Or A Smoke Screen?, Merril Sobie

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The thesis of this brief article is simply that the tobacco habits of a parent are relevant and worthy of consideration when a child is asthmatic, or suffers from some other definable medical condition which would be exacerbated by passive smoke. However, when the child is healthy and there exists no definitive short-term medical risk, the issue should be irrelevant. In other words, the court should consider those factors, and only those factors, which are of significant importance to the child, such as stability, caretaker skills, home environment and the child's wishes. Concededly, second-hand smoke is harmful even to a …

The Denial Of A State Constitutional Right To Bail In Juvenile Proceedings: The Need For Reassessment In Washington State, Kathleen A. Baldi

Seattle University Law Review

Article I, section 20 of the Washington Constitution states that "[a]ll persons charged with crimes shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident, or the presumption great." Despite seemingly unequivocal language that this constitutional provision is applicable to "all persons," the Washington Supreme Court, in Estes v. Hopp, declared that juveniles do not have a constitutional right to bail. The Estes court engaged in little constitutional analysis, but instead, reasoned that juvenile proceedings are civil in nature and that article 1, section 20 applies only in criminal proceedings. Central to the Estes …

Washington's Becca Bill: The Costs Of Empowering Parents, Alison G. Ivey

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment gives a practical overview of the Becca Bill and its provisions and addresses the potentially dangerous ramifications of the bill. Part II of this Comment gives a brief history of the trends in juvenile justice in this country, establishing a context for what led to the Becca Bill's passage. Part III of this Comment gives a brief history of Washington's statutes dealing with status offenders. This section then outlines the key portions of the Becca Bill, focusing primarily on the “lockup” provision and new petitions available to parents in order to obtain court intervention into the lives of …

Substituting Secure Detention For Shelter Care: An Illegal Deprivation Of Liberty, Susan M. Johlie

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Judges sitting on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia routinely order children into secure detention who require no more restrictive confinement than that provided by shelter care. Despite a statutory presumption against detention, and a superior court rule that prohibits substituting secure detention for shelter care,' the District inappropriately places children into secure detention simply because there is a lack of bed space in youth shelter houses. The deprivation of liberty that occurs when a juvenile is placed in secure detention rather than shelter care is required neither for the protection of the community nor for the welfare …

Juvenile Detention Law In The District Of Columbia: A Practitioner's Guide, Milton Lee, John Copacino, Paul Holland

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.