ABA Journal

Juvenile Justice

477 ABA Journal Juvenile Justice articles.

Child, 5, lacked intent for prosecution for alleged attack that sent teacher to hospital, experts say

Florida law provides that anyone suspected of a forcible felony, such as aggravated assault, can be prosecuted—no matter what their age is.

Thousands of confidential ethics and juvenile records are published online

A website called judyrecords.com has published thousands of confidential court records from across the nation, including private ethics records in California and juvenile court records from several states, according to reporting.

Illinois teen was coerced into false confession, family says; was unique state law violated?

An Illinois law that took effect in January bars police from lying to minors during interrogations, but it didn’t help a wrongfully accused juvenile, his lawyer says.

Martell Williams,…

Presume children will attend their dependency hearings, and help make it happen, ABA House urges

Government entities should enact, and courts should enforce, laws establishing a presumption of child presence in all dependency proceedings, the ABA House of Delegates urged Monday.

New Mexico has 1/3rd the number of public defenders necessary to meet caseload, study finds

The Law Offices of the Public Defender of the State of New Mexico only has one-third of the full-time attorneys it needs to handle its adult criminal and juvenile caseloads, according to a joint study by the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense and Seattle-based accounting and consulting firm Moss Adams.

Judge gives ‘Nirvana Baby’ ‘one last opportunity’ to revive lawsuit over child porn, trafficking claims

A federal judge in California has dismissed on a technicality the child pornography and sex trafficking claims of a man who appeared nude as a baby on the cover of rock band Nirvana’s 1991 grunge album Nevermind.

Relax with our favorite long reads of 2021

Feel like curling up next to the fireplace with a good read? Kevin Davis, the ABA Journal's managing editor, has curated a selection of our favorite feature stories that ran in the magazine and online in 2021.

Meet 12 ABA members who inspired us in 2021

The ABA Journal regularly profiles exceptional ABA members in its Members Who Inspire series. In the past year, we featured many in the legal field who are encouraging and energizing others with their good work, including advocating for inmates on death row, mentoring prospective law students of African descent and fighting to stop bullying in the workplace.

Weekly Briefs: New charges against lawyer accused of staging his shooting; Christian florist settles

Suspended lawyer Alex Murdaugh faces new charges

Suspended South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, previously charged in an alleged scheme to have himself killed for insurance money, is facing 27…

Judge who required jail visit for all arrested juveniles remains on bench after lawsuit payout

A tough-talking juvenile court judge in Rutherford County, Tennessee, established a policy requiring arrested elementary schoolchildren to be taken to the juvenile detention center for screening before charges were filed—even if the charges were minor.

Pot smell didn’t provide probable cause for juvenile’s arrest, top state court says

The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that marijuana and cocaine seized after police arrested a juvenile should be suppressed because the pot smell emanating from the vehicle in which she was a passenger didn’t provide probable cause for her arrest.

ABA House addresses treatment of children and youths in pair of resolutions

The ABA House of Delegates addressed the treatment of children and youths in two resolutions at the ABA Hybrid Annual Meeting on Tuesday.

Private prisons are a failed experiment with ‘perverse and immoral incentives,’ ABA House says in calling for their end

Private prisons, jails and juvenile detention centers “have a tendency to cut staff, they have a tendency to cut programs, and that probably shouldn’t surprise anybody because that’s how you make a profit,” Stephen A. Saltzburg said.

Troubling Treatment: Efforts are underway to reform teen behavioral programs

At age 15, Chelsea Filer tried to run away and live with her grandparents. A couple of weeks later, two large men, who worked with a transport company hired by her mother, woke her up in the middle of the night. The men took her across the border to a private residential school and treatment center in Mexico. “When children are legally kidnapped and trafficked across state or border lines, they lose their rights and any protections from the jurisdiction of their home state,” says Filer, who is now a youth rights advocate in Sacramento, California.

Lawyer’s suit claims raid was retaliation for successful defense; city sees allegations as baseless

The city of Roanoke, Virginia, is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a lawyer who claims that police raided her home in retaliation for successfully defending her stepson on murder charges.

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