Juvenile Law Commons^™

Calling On Congress: Use The Spending Clause To Keep Juveniles In Juvenile Court, Erin Fitzgerald

Pepperdine Law Review

Recently, juvenile justice reformers have had great success in expanding the reach of the juvenile court. Over the last two decades, many states have raised their age of majority, bringing older teens and young adults under the jurisdictional umbrella of the juvenile court. Likewise, many states have amended their transfer statutes, making transferring juveniles from juvenile court to adult criminal court more difficult. The success of these reforms is largely due to the relentless work of dedicated juvenile justice advocates and scholars. The “raise-the-age” movement and work to limit juvenile transfers has undoubtedly helped to retain more youthful offenders within …

Developmental Neurobiology And Miller V. Alabama: To What Extent Do Juvenile Brains Change?, Christos D. Strubakos J.D., Ph.D.

Cleveland State Law Review

This article delves into the profound complexities surrounding juvenile violent offenders. The landmark Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama ruled that mandatory life without parole for juveniles is unconstitutional, citing developmental neuroscience that suggests adolescent brains are more amenable to rehabilitation because of their ongoing development. However, this article posits the ruling overlooks critical nuances in brain development. Emerging research indicates some juvenile offenders may exhibit persistent neurological profiles, like structural and functional brain changes, which do not resolve with age, challenging the assumption all young offenders can be rehabilitated as they mature. Through an in-depth analysis of contemporary …

Evaporating Natural Parent Childcare Liberties Under New Parentage Laws, Jeffrey A. Parness

Arkansas Law Review

This Article explores the evaporating Due Process interests of natural childcare parents who are not unfit and who do not knowingly consent to diminished childcare liberties when the state recognizes new nonadoptive and nonbiological parents. Childcare liberty losses need not involve neglect or comparable bad acts rendering a parent unfit. They need not involve consent, actual or implied, by an adversely affected parent. On the new forms of nonadoptive and nonbiological childcare parents, the most recent UPAs and their state counterparts are illustrative. They recognize parentage in an individual who resides with and holds out a child as the individual’s …

Growing Pains: The Evolution Of Jlwop Sentences In Washington, Selena M. Galvan

Washington Law Review

In 2021, the Washington State Supreme Court abolished de facto life sentences— those that amount to a life sentence despite not carrying the life without parole label—for juvenile offenders, finding them unconstitutional under article 1, section 14 of the Washington Constitution. In 2022, less than a year later, the Court reversed course in the case of State v. Anderson by upholding a sixty-one-year sentence for crimes a juvenile offender committed at age seventeen. The Washington State Supreme Court’s decision in Anderson runs contrary to what modern science demonstrates about the diminished culpability of juvenile offenders, and it runs contrary to …

Trauma-Informed Judicial Practice Meets Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Compassionate Written Judgments In Child Protection Cases, Shelley Kierstead

Articles & Book Chapters

Trauma arises from profoundly distressing life events, and manifests in a range of often overwhelming physical and psychological symptoms. The legal community is increasingly recognizing that clients living with trauma need trauma-informed services—that is, services that “recognize, understand and minimize” the long-term impact of trauma. A trauma-informed approach acknowledges that “effective interventions with people require both the avoidance of retraumatization and the presence of respectful and supportive interventions that help people rebuild their lives.”

Religious Exemptions To Anti-Discrimination Law: Children's Rights In The Constitutional Calculus, Tanya Washington, Catherine Smith, Robin Walker Sterling

Scholarly Articles

Increasingly, religious actors in the public sphere--whether in the provision of goods and services (Masterpiece Cakeshop) or in government contracting (Fulton)--are simply invoking a person's sexual orientation as inconsistent with their religious tenets to benefit from a legal doctrine that shields them from the requirement that they offer an underlying rationale for LGBTQ discrimination. Over the past decade, we have filed amicus briefs in United States Supreme Court cases advancing children's constitutional rights, including briefs providing a check on these religious-based arguments when they adversely impact children's rights in the familial and child regulation contexts and …

Table Of Contents, Children's Legal Rights Journal

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

The Worst Collateral Consequence: Rethinking The Best Interests Standard In The Context Of Racism, Classism, And Mass Incarceration, Abigail Hean

Children's Legal Rights Journal

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country. In recent years, mandatory minimums, probation revocation, and other laws have led to increased periods of incarceration, even for low-level offenses. When a parent becomes incarcerated, their children are often left in the hands of the state, and a countdown to the termination of parental rights begins. Even if the parent has never been accused of child abuse or neglect, parental rights can be terminated on the grounds that the parent is unable to care for their children while incarcerated. Increasingly, states have placed more emphasis on permanent placement for …

Veiled Child Labor: A Focus On The Almajiranci And Yar Aiki Systems In Northern Nigeria, Aisha Mohammed Suleiman

Children's Legal Rights Journal

Child labor is like a powder keg. It remains a persistent global issue, with millions of children subjected to exploitative practices that strip them of their fundamental rights, access to education, and overall well-being. Although child labor is an increasing issue around the globe, this paper focuses on Northern Nigeria because the Almajiri systems and Yar aiki systems covertly function as platforms for child labor. To examine this issue, this paper adopts a doctrinal approach. It argues that legal reforms alone are insufficient to address these issues. Other challenges, such as insecurity and economic factors, also contribute significantly to children’s …

Equip For Equality: Education Access For Incarcerated Individuals With Disabilities, René J. Valenzuela

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Children's Legal Rights Journal

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Screenings For Dyslexia, Learning Disorders, And Literacy Issues: A U.S. State Legislative Comparative Framework, Andrea Lollini, Maryna Tsapok, Sara Hundt

Children's Legal Rights Journal

This article provides a comparative analysis of state legislation on screening and interventions for dyslexia, language learning disorders, and early literacy issues in the United States. The analysis emphasizes how different approaches to tackling learning deficiencies across states in the U.S. may trigger unequal distribution of services and interventions across the country. Furthermore, the lack of uniform definitions and terminology employed by state lawmakers makes it difficult to evaluate the efficiency of implemented policies. Evidence-based federal guidelines would help set uniform standards for low literacy and LLD screening and interventions in schools nationwide, leading to a more robust and equitable …

Fulfilling Plyler's Promise: Undocumented Students' Access To Education, René J. Valenzuela

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

The Benefits And Harms Of School Resource Officers, Abby Hanneman

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Balancing Scrutiny And Privacy: Approaches To Increasing Transparency In The Family Regulation System, Lindsay Nicholas

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

"I Deserve An Education Here Too": Protecting Children With Disabilities In Private School Settings Via State Regulations, Naomi Zweig

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

A Nationwide Issue: The Failure To Ban Child Marriage In The United States And Its Disparate Impact On Female Youth, Aniejah Humphrey

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Introduction, In Children And Violence: Agency, Experience, And Representation In And Beyond Armed Conflict (Christelle Molima Bameka Et Al. Eds., 2025), Christelle Molima Bameka, Mohamed Kamara, Mark A. Drumbl

Books and Chapters

This multi-disciplinary volume provides an innovative approach to children and violence, looking beyond the existing literature that focuses on child soldiers in the ‘Global South.’

Harnessing expert contributions from over a dozen countries, the book examines the relationship between children and violence, with a focus on children ensnared in military conflict, embroiled in criminal gangs, and enmeshed in political activism. It analyses how children join fights, how they fight, and what happens to them after fighting officially ends. It addresses cutting- edge issues such as cyberwars, self-defence, intergenerational trauma, gender fluidity, racism and state surveillance. Throughout, the book underscores the …

Children As Informers And Denouncers, In Children And Violence: Agency, Experience, And Representation In And Beyond Armed Conflict (Christelle Molima Bameka Et Al. Eds., 2025), Mark A. Drumbl, Barbora Holá

Books and Chapters

This chapter explores the use of children in propaganda and informing networks as forms of violence. While this chapter nests in 20th- century Communism in the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, the interface of children with these networks is not unique to these times and places. Indeed, these experiences link to those elsewhere, thereby elucidating the dually manipulated and agentic role of children in a regime’s fight for legitimacy and thereby blending with a number of contributions to this volume including those by Mohamed Kamara and Sylvie Bodineau. The point of this chapter is not to particularise (or pathologise) Soviet and …

Navahine V. Hawai'i Dept. Of Transportation: The Keiki Will Lead Us, Catherine Smith

Scholarly Articles

The author analyzes the landmark case Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, which culminated in the world’s first constitutional climate settlement. Catherine Smith, serving as an expert for the youth plaintiffs, situates the case within Hawaiʻi’s legal tradition of prioritizing children’s rights and intergenerational equity. She explores the evolution of children’s constitutional protections, contrasting Hawaiʻi’s progressive jurisprudence with the dominant adult-centric legal framework on the mainland. She critiques four recurring analytical missteps in U.S. courts that marginalize children’s interests and highlights Hawaiʻi’s public trust doctrine and cultural values, such as the Aloha Spirit, as models for addressing climate-related harms. …