Juvenile Justice

Northern Star: John Choi is leading efforts to redefine justice in Minnesota

When John Choi became the city attorney for St. Paul, Minnesota, he didn’t have much experience with criminal law. “What I found was that a lot of times, the things that happened in these cases didn’t really produce an outcome that I think would have made the public proud,” Choi says.

Feb 1, 2025 1:00 AM CST

Judge who oversaw handcuffing of sleepy teen on field trip now hearing these cases

A Detroit judge sued for allegedly making an example of a sleepy teenager on a courtroom field trip is back on the bench, but he no longer presides in preliminary stages of serious criminal cases.

Oct 2, 2024 8:57 AM CDT

Teen shooters and their parents’ responsibilities examined in Fox’s ‘Accused’

School shootings by youths have risen frequently over the last quarter century, and the past five years reflect a substantially higher number of incidents, according to a recent article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Sep 19, 2024 8:52 AM CDT

TikTok can be sued over ‘Blackout Challenge’ that led to death, 3rd Circuit says

A federal appeals court has ruled that a mother of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who died after copying a “Blackout Challenge” that appeared on her TikTok “For You Page” can sue the social media company.

Sep 3, 2024 2:53 PM CDT

Family sues judge who ordered teen to be handcuffed after she fell asleep

The mother of a teenage girl sued the Detroit judge who detained and handcuffed her daughter after she fell asleep during a field trip to his courtroom.

Aug 22, 2024 10:03 AM CDT

When trying to discipline teens, how much is too much?

Netflix’s Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare, released in December 2023, sounds like a cheesy 1980s slaughter-fest horror film. Sadly, the events relayed by the documentary are far from fiction.

Aug 20, 2024 8:52 AM CDT

Teen on field trip ends up in handcuffs and jail garb because judge didn’t want to be ‘played with’

A teenager sleeping during a field trip to a Detroit courtroom got a wake-up call from a judge Tuesday.

Aug 15, 2024 10:28 AM CDT

Why parents are being punished for the crimes of their children

Parental responsibility is being put to the test. The big question now remains: Where is the line, and how much parental nudging is too little?

Jul 2, 2024 2:52 PM CDT

Federal judge reprimanded for handcuffing teen spectator in scared-straight approach

A federal judge who ordered a defendant’s daughter handcuffed to warn her about the consequences of drug use has been reprimanded by the judicial council of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco.

May 2, 2024 10:58 AM CDT

Court program bets on autistic kids

In 2018, Justice Sunny Bailey created the Detention Alternative for Autistic Youth. When autistic youths arrive in the Las Vegas 8th Judicial District court charged with crimes ranging from battery to sexual assault, they have the opportunity to go to DAAY Court, which connects those children and teens with the help they need free of charge.

Apr 23, 2024 10:55 AM CDT

After bringing criminal charges again Netflix, DA winds up with federal court bad-faith finding

Cuties, a 2020 Netflix film, tells the story of an 11-year old Senegalese girl in France who comes from a devout Muslim family navigating the sometimes provocative culture of modern dance while having a devout Muslim family. Directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, a French filmmaker who like the main character, Amy,…

Jan 31, 2024 9:30 AM CST

Mother of boy arrested at age 10 for public urination won’t sign probation agreement

The mother of a 10-year-old boy arrested in Mississippi for urinating in public won’t be signing the probation agreement, according to the family’s lawyer.

Dec 21, 2023 12:14 PM CST

For 30 years, ABA Children’s Rights Litigation Committee has trained and supported kids’ lawyers

The Children’s Rights Litigation Committee “has just been a fantastic banger of the drum that kids need true representation, just like anyone else who’s inside a system that is making incredibly impactful decisions about their lives,” says Angela Vigil, the longest-serving member of the committee.

Sep 21, 2023 8:50 AM CDT

Passion for Justice: Northwestern law prof fights for juvenile rights armed with research

Julie Biehl, an ABA member since 2006, is known as a straight shooter, whose presence fills a room. “She’s a tiny woman, maybe 5’1”, but she is so fiery and so full of passion and just cares,” says Garien Gatewood, deputy mayor for community safety for the city of Chicago.

Sep 6, 2023 10:09 AM CDT

Is family court too flawed to be fixed?

Jane M. Spinak did not set out to write a book arguing for the abolition of family court. She thought that she would be making the case for a set of sensible reforms. But the more she dug into the history of the family court system, the previous attempts at reform, and the examples of real world harms that the system had caused, the more she began to believe there was no saving it.

Jul 26, 2023 8:07 AM CDT