Juvenile Justice

SCOTUS remands juvenile sentencing cases; dissenters say judges already considered incorrigibility

Two justices dissented on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court returned five cases to Arizona state courts to reconsider in light of Supreme Court precedent on juvenile sentencing. The Supreme Court vacated the Arizona judgments and remanded them for consideration based on Montgomery v. Arizona, which held that a 2012…

Oct 31, 2016 1:17 PM CDT

ACLU sues Kansas City school district for handcuffing a crying 7-year-old

The ACLU of Missouri has sued the Kansas City Public Schools over a handcuffing incident involving an African-American 7-year-old boy. According to the Kansas City Star, the second-grader was handcuffed by a school police officer in 2014 after he started crying uncontrollably in class at George Melcher Elementary School. The…

Sep 16, 2016 2:00 PM CDT

Louisiana juveniles got longer sentences after unexpected LSU football losses, study finds

Juvenile judges in Louisiana imposed longer sentences in the week after an unexpected football loss by Louisiana State University, according to a working paper by two Louisiana State University economics professors. The average length of dispositions—which included probation and custody—was 513 days for the juveniles studied. But that average increased…

Sep 8, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Court fines and fees trap juvenile defendants in cycle of debt, new study finds

A report says fines and fees for juveniles who get in trouble with the law trap them in debt and push them toward recidivism. The report (PDF) was published Thursday by the Juvenile Law Center, a Philadelphia public interest law firm for children and teens. It also contends that obligations…

Sep 2, 2016 4:00 PM CDT

Autism awareness project trains Pennsylvania’s juvenile judges

For children with autism, social interaction, communication and behavioral development are common challenges. Those challenges are compounded when an autistic child gets wrapped up in the criminal justice system.

Sep 1, 2016 3:50 AM CDT

Appeals court upholds decision to try girls charged in Slender Man stabbings as adults

A Wisconsin appeals court has upheld prosecutors’ decision to try two girls as adults for stabbing a friend 19 times to please the fictional Slender Man character. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday, report the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Courthouse News Service. The two accused girls were 12…

Jul 28, 2016 8:05 AM CDT

Police routinely read juveniles their Miranda rights, but do kids really understand them?

Attorney Sherri Jefferson still remembers a juvenile criminal case that, she says, “really works me up.” Her 14-year-old client, suspected of participating in an armed robbery that led to murder, did something unusual for someone his age: He asked questions when the police read him his Miranda rights. He asked…

Jun 1, 2016 2:50 AM CDT

Iowa Supreme Court rules life without parole is an unconstitutional sentence for juveniles

Sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole violates the Iowa Constitution, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday. The court said such sentences amount to cruel and unusual punishment, report the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Des Moines Register. The 4-3 ruling (PDF) goes further than…

May 31, 2016 8:56 AM CDT

States soften stance on adult prosecution of juvenile offenders

Several states that automatically prosecute accused offenders as adults beginning at age 17 year are considering raising the age to 18. Louisiana and South Carolina are both considering bills to raise the age, the New York Times reports. The proposals are backed by a national “raise the age” movement that…

May 17, 2016 6:15 AM CDT

Youths caught bringing drugs across the Mexican border to Arizona county face adult charges

Drug cartels frequently use children to bring drugs from Mexico to the United States, and prosecutors in an Arizona border town now charge those juveniles caught as adults. The Cochise County Attorney’s Office refers to the project as “Operation Immediate Consequences,” the Los Angeles Times reports. It began last year,…

May 3, 2016 11:15 AM CDT

‘Affluenza’ teen who killed 4 in drunk-driving accident faces likely prison term of 720 days

Prosecutors had sought a 20-year prison term for a Texas youth whose blood-alcohol level was triple the legal limit for adults when he killed four people in a drunken-driving accident in 2013. But Ethan Couch, still a juvenile at the time, got probation. His well-to-do parents agreed to pay for…

Apr 13, 2016 3:45 PM CDT

Middle schooler is criminally charged for making threats with emojis

A 12-year-old is being charged with making threats against her school using emojis, the Washington Post reported Saturday. The girl is from Fairfax, Virginia, and her name was not given because she’s a minor. Police say she made an Instagram post in December that said, in part: “Killing [gun emoji]…

Feb 29, 2016 2:55 PM CST

Found delinquent in fatal school shootings, both perps sought or got guns after release at age 21

Two men found delinquent as juveniles in what was then one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history were confined for less than 10 years before being released on their 21st birthdays. Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden are the only two perpetrators of mass school shootings in this country…

Feb 17, 2016 12:05 PM CST

Appeals court OKs 111 years for teen who killed 4, shot 25; lawyer calls him ‘completely harmless’

An Oregon man who fatally shot his parents and two high school classmates and wounded 25 others at the school cafeteria when he was 15 years old can’t further challenge his prison sentence of nearly 112 years, a state appeals court says. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miller…

Feb 10, 2016 3:20 PM CST

A child who murders ‘cannot be willy-nilly turned loose into society,’ judge says

An 11-year-old boy who shot and killed his 8-year-old neighbor in a dispute over puppies “is in desperate need of help,” according to the judge who found the boy delinquent for the offense of murder. Judge Dennis “Will” Roach of Jefferson County, Tennessee, issued a dispositional order (PDF) on Feb.…

Feb 9, 2016 7:20 AM CST