Juvenile Law Commons^™

Rethinking Family-Court Prosecutors: Elected And Agency Prosecutors And Prosecutorial Discretion In Juvenile Delinquency And Child Protection Cases, Joshua Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Scholarship

Like criminal prosecutors, family-court prosecutors have immense power. Determining which cases to prosecute and which to divert or dismiss goes to the heart of the delinquency system’s balance between punishment and rehabilitation of children and the child protection system’s spectrum of family interventions. For instance, the 1990s shift to prosecute (rather than dismiss or divert) about 10 percent more delinquency cases annually is as significant a development as any other. Yet scholars have not examined the legal structures for these charging decisions or family-court prosecutors’ authority in much depth.

This Article shows how family-court prosecutors’ roles have never been fully …

Brain Development, Social Context And Justice Policy, Elizabeth S. Scott, Natasha Duell, Laurence Steinberg

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the role played by biological and psychological factors associated with adolescent criminal activity in the context of justice policy reform and its critics. Scott, Duell, and Steinberg assert that risk-taking behavior in adolescence is not solely associated with biological and psychological immaturity, but rather exists as a dynamic interaction between those factors and the individual social context. This interactive model of juvenile offending supports the trend of treating juveniles differently than adults in the criminal justice system and clarifies how correctional programs are crucial in either undermining or promoting healthy development in adolescents.

Aggressive Policing And The Educational Performance Of Minority Youth, Joscha Legewie, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

An increasing number of minority youth are confronted with the criminal justice system. But how does the expansion of police presence in poor urban communities affect educational outcomes? Previous research points at multiple mechanisms with opposing effects. This article presents the first causal evidence of the impact of aggressive policing on the educational performance of minority youth. Under Operation Impact, the New York Police Department (NYPD) saturated high crime areas with additional police officers with the mission to engage in aggressive, order maintenance policing. To estimate the effect, we use administrative data from about 250,000 adolescents aged 9 to 15 …

Virtual Shackles: Electronic Surveillance And The Adultification Of Juvenile Courts, Chaz Arnett

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

In recent years, there has been a groundswell of attention directed at problems within the American criminal justice system, led in part by Michelle Alexander’s groundbreaking book, The New Jim Crow, and most recently through the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement. This increased focus on the harms of over-incarceration and net-widening, has had the benefit of introducing to the public other practices utilized in the criminal justice system, such as the widespread use of ankle monitors to track the location of defendants and released offenders. Yet, despite this greater attention, legal scholarship has only recently begun to grapple …

A More Just System Of Juvenile Justice: Creating A New Standard Of Accountability For Juveniles In Illinois, Brooke Troutman

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

For over a century, America’s legal system has made substantial reforms to change its treatment of adolescents. Every day, we see that our legal system treats adolescents differently from their adult counterparts. With regards to driving privileges, voting rights, and the ability to drink, our laws recognize that adults and adolescents are different and therefore require a different set of standards. America extended this treatment to the realm of juvenile justice in 1899, when Cook County, Illinois, created the country’s first juvenile court. Originating in this court was the overarching purpose of America’s juvenile justice system—rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. Though …

The Intersection Between Young Adult Sentencing And Mass Incarceration, Josh Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Publications

This Article connects two growing categories of academic literature and policy reform: arguments for treating young adults in the criminal justice system more leniently than older adults because of evidence showing brain development and maturation continue until the mid-twenties; and arguments calling for reducing mass incarceration and identifying various mechanisms to do so. These categories overlap, but research has not previously built in depth connections between the two.

Connecting the two bodies of literature helps identify and strengthen arguments for reform. First, changing charging, detention, and sentencing practices for young adults is one important tool to reduce mass incarceration. Young …

Incarcerating The Accused: Reforming Bail For The Pretrial Detention Of Juveniles And Youths Aged Eighteen To Twenty-One, Leigha A. Weiss

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

This note addresses the injustice of pretrial detention on juveniles, minors, and youths aged eighteen to twenty-one, in New York State. This note will address juveniles, aged eighteen to twenty-one, who are subject to criminal proceedings in adult criminal court and incarceration in adult criminal facilities as well as juveniles or minors below the age of criminal responsibility who are subject to juvenile delinquency proceedings and incarceration in juvenile detention facilities. So many youths are in unnecessary detentions under horrific conditions in adults and juvenile correctional facilities across the country. Serious bail reform is long overdue to provide humane …

30 Tips For Excellence In Juvenile Defense, Julie Ellen Mcconnell

Law Faculty Publications

This article for the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers newsletter provides advice on representing juvenile clients.

Paying The Price: Eliminating Life Without Parole Sentences For Juveniles In Rhode Island, Mackenzie Mcburney

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Collateral Consequences For Justice-Involved Youth: A Model Approach To Reducing The Number Of Collateral Consequences, Jennica Janssen

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Collateral consequences—stigma and disadvantages individuals face after becoming entangled in the legal system—for justice­involved youth differ by jurisdiction and number in the thousands. Although the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) advocated for the reduction of juvenile collateral consequences over five years ago, after an initial surge in activism, the movement lost momentum. The Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and several non-profit, public interest law firms, continue to advocate for the clarification of juvenile collateral consequences and the elimination of specific sanctions. This Note recognizes the importance of gathering juvenile collateral …

The New Law Of The Child, Anne Dailey, Laura A. Rosenbury

Faculty Articles and Papers

This Article sets forth a new paradigm for describing, understanding, and shaping children's relationship to law. The existing legal regime, which we term the "authorities framework;' focuses too narrowly on state and parental control over children, reducing children's interests to those of dependency and the attainment of autonomy. In place of this limited focus, we envision a "new law of the child" that promotes a broader range of children's present and future interests, including children's interests in parental relationships and nonparental relationships with children and other adults; exposure to new ideas; expressions of identity; personal integrity and privacy; and participation …

Judges Behaving Badly - Clinics Fighting Back: The Struggle For Special Immigrant Juveniles In State Dependency Courts In The Age Of Trump, Bernard P. Perlmutter

Articles

No abstract provided.

Tips For Safety Planning For Children Of Undocumented Parents, Jennifer Baum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In 2013, more than 5 million children in the United States (over 7 percent of the total U.S. child population) were living with at least one undocumented parent, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The overwhelming majority of these children (80 percent) were U.S. citizens. The Washington Post reported that more than half a million of these children's parents have in fact been deported since 2009. That's a lot of U.S. children living day to day with the sudden loss, or risk of sudden loss, of a parent through deportation.

Finding The Forum That Fits: Child Immigrants And Fair Process, Lenni Benson

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Sexual Abuse Of Juveniles In Correctional Facilities: A Violation Of The Prison Rape Elimination Act, Sara Medina

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Undocumented Citizens Of The United States: The Repercussions Of Denying Birth Certificates, Anna L. Lichtenberger

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

A Human Right To Self-Government Over First Nation Child And Family Services And Beyond: Implications Of The Caring Society Case, Naiomi Metallic

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

English Abstract

On January 26, 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) released a watershed decision in a complaint spearheaded by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, headed by Dr. Cindy Blackstock, and the Assembly of First Nations (the “Caring Society” decision). The complaint alleged that Canada, through its Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs (“INAC” or the “Department”), discriminates against First Nations children and families in the provision of child welfare services on reserve. In its decision, the Tribunal found that INAC’s design, management and control of child welfare services on reserve, along with …

Deterrence, David Crump

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Moving Beyond Lassiter: The Need For A Federal Statutory Right To Counsel For Parents In Child Welfare Cases, Vivek S. Sankaran

Journal of Legislation

No abstract provided.

Moving Beyond Lassiter: The Need For A Federal Statutory Right To Counsel For Parents In Child Welfare Cases, Vivek S. Sankaran

Articles

In New York City, an indigent parent can receive the assistance of a multidisciplinary legal team—an attorney, a social worker, and a parent advocate—to defend against the City’s request to temporarily remove a child from her care. But in Mississippi, that same parent can have her rights to her child permanently terminated without ever receiving the assistance of a single lawyer. In Washington State, the Legislature has ensured that parents ensnared in child abuse and neglect proceedings will receive the help of a well-trained and well-compensated attorney with a reasonable caseload. Yet in Tennessee, its Supreme Court has held that …