Juvenile Law Commons^™

Kids Will Be Kids: Time For A "Reasonable Child" Standard For The Proof Of Objective Mens Rea Elements, Christopher M. Northrop, Kristina R. Rozan

Maine Law Review

In a line of recent cases that have rocked the world of juvenile law, the Supreme Court relied on the latest brain science research with the timeless knowledge of parents to state forcefully and repeatedly that children are more impetuous, more vulnerable to outside pressures, less depraved, and less culpable for their actions than adults are. Yet criminal statutes refer to the “reasonable person” standard, which does not take into account the age of the accused as the benchmark for guilt or innocence. In doing so, we hold children to an irrelevant and arguably unfairly demanding behavioral ideal, and criminalize …

Agree To Disagree: Moving Tennessee Toward Pure No-Fault Divorce, Evan Wright

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

This Note addresses Tennessee's no-fault divorce statute. Currently, married couples are forced to either agree on all issues or prove at least one fault ground. This author contends that the current law imposes an unnecessary burden on litigants, which wastes precious resources that Tennessee families could use for more productive purposes. Moreover, pure no-fault states have not seen a disproportionate rise in divorce rates. Last, pure no-fault divorce better reflects current societal trends and the evolving effect of religious affiliation on how a younger generation defines morality.

A Longitudinal And Experimental Study Of The Impact Of Knowledge On The Bases Of Institutional Trust, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Christopher D. Kimbrough, Ellie Shockley, Tess M.S. Neal, Mitchel Herian, Joseph A. Hamm, Brian H. Bornstein, Alan Tomkins

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

This study examined a knowledge-centered theory of institutional trust development. In the context of trust in water regulatory institutions, the moderating impact of knowledge was tested to determine if there were longitudinal changes in the bases of institutional trust as a function of increases in knowledge about a target institution. We hypothesized that as people learn about an institution with which they were previously unfamiliar, they begin to form more nuanced perceptions, distinguishing the new institution from other institutions and relying less upon their generalized trust to estimate their trust in that institution. Prior to having specific, differential information about …

Systemic Governmental Recalcitrance In Regulating Confidentiality Under The Child Abuse, Prevention & Treatment Act (Capta): A Case Study, William Wesley Patton

Journal of Legislation

In 2003, Congress amended the Child Abuse, Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to provide states with more flexibility in designing open child dependency hearings. The Federal Children’s Bureau has interpreted those amendments as a congressional waiver of CAPTA confidentiality in open court proceedings, and there-fore, currently tens of millions of abused and neglected children no longer have federal protection from being re-traumatized by disclosure of confidential CAPTA child welfare case information. This article demonstrates that the Children’s Bureau’s statutory interpretation is inconsistent with congressional intent and that states are still mandated to reasonably prevent the republication of confidential data by …

Parental Blame Frame: An Empirical Examination Of The Media's Portrayal Of Parents And Their Delinquent Juveniles, Ashley Wellman, Eve Brank, Katherine Hazen

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The most recent study discussed in this article examines how the media report issues of parental responsibility and blame regarding acts of juvenile delinquency. To accomplish this goal, we examined the frequency, context, and framing of parental responsibility in local and national print media via two content analyses. The results demonstrate that national media sources depict the notion of parental responsibility, whereas local media stories rarely mention parents. The national stories offer distant, more global statements of parental responsibility, while the local, specific stories tend to avoid any parental blame. The findings in this paper mirror public opinion polls that …

Handcuffing A Third Grader? Interactions Between School Resource Officers And Students With Disabilities, Elizabeth A. Shaver, Janet R. Decker

Utah Law Review

The expansion of police involvement at schools has had serious implications for students with disabilities. By enacting IDEA, Congress recognized that these students deserve special protections and entitlements. In the most recent amendments to this federal law, Congress included important guidelines regarding functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) to outline how school personnel must respond to undesired behavior of students with disabilities. Recognizing the special behavioral needs of students with disabilities is one way to reduce the current reality where students with disabilities are suspended, expelled, restrained, and secluded at much higher rates than their peers.

Although …

Exploring The Parameters Of A Child's Right To Redemption: Some Thoughts, Katherine Hunt Federle

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Random If Not Rare: The Eighth Amendment Weaknesses Of Post-Miller Legislation, Kimberly Thomas

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Pre-Furman Juvenile Death Penalty In South Carolina: Young Black Life Was Cheap, Sheri Lynn Johnson, John H. Blume, Hannah L. Freedman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Capital punishment in this country, and in South Carolina, has its roots in racial subjugation, stereotype, and animosity. The extreme disparities we report here have dampened due to the combined effects of decreasing levels of open racial antagonism, the reforms of the modem death penalty, including categorical exemptions for juveniles and person with intellectual disabilities and prohibition of the imposition of the death penalty for the crime of rape, and the (small) increase in diversity in capital juries. But dampened does not mean eradicated. Significant disparities in the administration of capital punishment persist today. The color of a defendant's skin …

A Meaningful Opportunity For Release: Resentencing Hearings For Juvenile Offenders Sentenced To Life Without Parole Following Aiken V. Byars, Robert M. Dudek

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Noncitizen Youth In The Juvenile Justice System: The Serious Consequences Of Failed Confidentiality By Ice Referral, Erin Mower Adams

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Good, Bad And Wrongful Juvenile Sex: Rethinking The Use Of Statutory Rape Laws Against The Protected Class, Anna High

Arkansas Law Review

This article considers the question of whether statutory rape laws can and should be used against members of the class they were designed to protect. Many commentators have argued that meaningfully consensual sex among similarly situated and sufficiently mature teenagers should be beyond the scope of strict liability rape laws, but the question becomes more fraught in the context of the “contested outer limits” of adolescent sexuality—sexual contact among children and adolescents that offends social norms, leads to harmful outcomes or appears to be exploitative. What are the implications of using statutory rape laws against minors to target “bad sex”? …

The Law Demands Process For Rehomed Children, Sally Terry Green

Arkansas Law Review

This article argues that the same administrative or judicial process that protects children under established state law principles must also safeguard rehomed children. The states should be compelled to enact specific prohibition against the practice of rehoming. For instance, the adoption statutes should be expanded to require an administrative process where adopted children suffering from attachment disorders are identified and supported by specially staffed post adoption service agencies.

Since these disorders are often the bedrock of rehoming, this article highlights in Part II a rehoming anecdote involving severe attachment disorder of older adopted children. Part III discusses the advent of …

Bringing Racial Justice To The Courtroom And Community: Race Matters For Juvenile Justice And The Charlotte Model, Susan Mccarter, Elisa Chinn-Gary, Louis A. Trosch, Jr., Ahmed Toure, Abraham Alsaeedi, Jennifer Harrington

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This article describes regional institutional organizing efforts to bring racial justice to the Charlotte courts and community through a collaborative called Race Matters for Juvenile Justice (RMJJ). The authors explain community and institutional organizing in-depth using the example of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system, but recognize the pervasiveness of racial and ethnic disparities. Moreover, as the Race Matters for Juvenile Justice-Charlotte Model has gained national prominence, many jurisdictions seek to replicate the collaborative and the authors, therefore, provide RMJJ’s history as well as strategies for changing the narrative through communication and education, workforce development, data and research, community …

Obergefell’S Impact On Functional Families, Raymond C. O'Brien

Catholic University Law Review

More than forty percent of children born in America are born to unmarried parents and only half of all cohabitating adults in America are currently married. While many children are born to single parents, others are part of the two-person unmarried cohabiting functional family paradigm. What is the status of these children?

This article examines the changing paradigm of parental status, specifically vis-à-vis homosexual couples with children, and the rights of the non-biological parent after separation. This article examines the changes in law in regards to unmarried parents leading up to the Uniform Parentage Act. It describes the equitable remedies …

Arrested Development: Rethinking The Contract Age Of Majority For The Twenty-First Century Adolescent, Wayne R. Barnes

Maryland Law Review

The contract age of majority is currently age eighteen. Contracts entered into by minors under this age are generally voidable at the minor’s option. This contract doctrine of capacity is based on the policy of protecting minors from their own poor financial decisions and lack of adultlike judgment. Conversely, the age of eighteen is currently set as the arbitrary age at which one will be bound to her contract, since this is the current benchmark for becoming an “adult.” However, this Article questions the accuracy of age eighteen for this benchmark. Until comparatively recently, the age of contract majority had …

Short Fall Arguments In Court: A Probabilistic Analysis, Maria Cuellar

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A discussion about how statistical arguments are used in court, specifically in cases of Abusive Head Trauma in which the defendant has claimed that an accidental short fall, and not shaking or child abuse, has caused the child’s injuries.

Bias, Subjectivity, And Wrongful Conviction, Katherine Judson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A talk about bias, subjectivity and wrongful convictions.

Juvenile Justice Research To Policy And The Case Of Fines, Alex R. Piquero

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Pursuing Gault, David S. Tanenhaus, Eric C. Nystrom

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Police Interrogations, False Confessions, And Alleged Child Abuse Cases, Richard Leo

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A discussion on false confession cases in the United States.

Evidence Of Child Abuse: Inferring The Causes Of Effects, Stephen E. Fienberg

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A statistician's take on evidence of child abuse.

Child Abuse--Nonaccidental Injury (Nai) And Abusive Head Trauma (Aht)--Medical Imaging: Issues And Controversies In The Era Of Evidence-Based Medicine, Patrick Barnes

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A look at nonaccidental injury and abusive head trauma in children with a focus on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

On The Ends And Means Of Protecting Youth In Juvenile Courts, Franklin E. Zimring

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

My Life In Crime: An Intellectual History Of The Juvenile Court, Barry C. Feld

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Championing Children's Rights In Nevada, 2000-2015: The Thomas & Mack Juvenile Justice Clinic As Change Agent, Mary C. Berkheiser

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Barry Feld: An Intellectual History Of A Juvenile Court Reformer, Martin Guggenheim

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Ab 193: Constitutional Guarantees Sacrificed For Ineffective Means, Paul George

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Random If Not "Rare"? The Eighth Amendment Weaknesses Of Post-Miller Legislation, Kimberly Thomas

Articles

First, this Article surveys the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to analogize life without parole for juveniles to the death penalty for adults, and discusses the Eighth Amendment law regarding the parameters around death penalty statutory schemes. Second, this Article examines the state legislative response to Miller, and scrutinizes it with the Court's Eighth Amendment death penalty law-and the states' responses to this case law-in mind. This Article highlights the failure of juvenile homicide sentencing provisions to: 1) narrow offenses that are eligible for life without parole sentences; 2) further limit, once a guilty finding is made, the categories of …

Unambiguous Deterrence: Ambiguity Attitudes In The Juvenile Justice System And The Case For A Right To Counsel During Intake Proceedings, Hannah Frank

Vanderbilt Law Review

According to the traditional rational choice theory of criminal behavior, people choose to commit crimes in a rational manner.' They weigh the costs and benefits and make informed decisions to maximize their utility. Under this framework, the state can deter crime through two main avenues: increasing the probability of detection and increasing the punishment if caught, both of which increase the total cost of committing a crime. Recently, however, behavioral insights have begun to cast doubt on traditional rationality assumptions. Lab experiments and empirical studies using real-world data have shown that people exhibit bounded rationality. For example, individuals have limited …