Juvenile Justice

En Banc 9th Circuit Strikes Girl’s Strip Search

A sharply divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with a 13-year-old Arizona girl who was subjected to a strip search in which middle school officials tried in vain to find prescription-strength ibruprofen. The 6-5 ruling (PDF) on Friday holds that the strip search of Savana Redding wasn’t…

Jul 14, 2008 7:23 PM CDT

Boy, 12, Takes Deal in Fla. Tot’s Murder, Gets 18 Months

In a case that lawyers hope will have a happier ending than that of another Florida 12-year-old convicted of murdering a much smaller child, a boy accused of beating a toddler to death with a baseball bat while babysitting her has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. Under the plea…

Jul 10, 2008 8:50 PM CDT

Camp Counselor Child Sex Case Exposes Flaws in Background Check System

A United Kingdom child sexual abuse case being pursued against a substitute schoolteacher who worked for 14 years as a counselor at a prestigious summer camp in Maine has exposed some gaps in the nation’s background check system. Although the camp, which is a popular destination for the children of…

Jul 7, 2008 10:35 PM CDT

Sect Leader’s Daughter Tells Attorney Ad Litem to Step Aside

The daughter of polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs has told her attorney ad litem in an e-mail to step aside. She sent a copy of the missive to the Salt Lake Tribune. The teen, 16-year-old Teresa Jeffs, told the newspaper in an interview that Texas lawyer Natalie Malonis is restricting…

Jun 23, 2008 12:16 PM CDT

Lawyer Accused of Billing County for More than 24 Hours of Work in a Day

An Illinois lawyer who represented indigent juveniles for Cook County, which includes Chicago, has been accused of billing for more than 20 hours of daily work on nearly 90 different days. On 38 occasions, lawyer Jeffery Luckett of Homewood is accused of billing for more than 24 hours in a…

Jun 6, 2008 4:16 PM CDT

Texas Judge Sued for Courtroom Paddlings

Texas Judge Gustavo Garza keeps two paddles in his courtroom and he gives parents the option of putting them to use on their truant children to avoid a $500 fine. Now the parents of a child who opted for the paddling are suing the judge in an effort to oust…

Jun 6, 2008 1:31 PM CDT

Law Firm Fights Fla. Teen’s 30-Year Sentence for Deadly Driving

William Thornton IV was reportedly driving without a valid license when he skidded through a stop sign on a poorly lit road in Citrus County, Fla., in 2004. Both occupants of the vehicle he hit, who weren’t wearing their seatbelts, were thrown from their SUV and died. But Thornton, who…

Jun 5, 2008 3:23 PM CDT

Ohio Juvenile Judge Offers Sentencing Option of Blood Donation

Blood transfusions may have helped save the life of a Cleveland juvenile court judge when at the age of 17 he became paralyzed from the neck down in a trampoline accident. Now Judge Peter Sikora is offering juvenile offenders the chance to help others in life-or-death situations by allowing older…

Jun 4, 2008 7:19 PM CDT

Swayed by Defendant’s Testimony, Jurors Puzzle Lawyers With Verdict

Demetrius Carey was charged as a triggerman, at age 14, in an alleged robbery-gone-bad that resulted in the death of a 56-year-old South Florida woman on her front steps as she was returning from the grocery store. But the now-16-year-old defendant apparently may have saved himself from a potential life…

May 29, 2008 9:12 PM CDT

10-Year-Old Talks His Way Through Sea-Tac Airport Security

A 10-year-old boy who took a commercial airline flight to Texas, with a stopover and without a ticket last year, at age 9, has reportedly tried again. This time, Semaj Booker talked his way through the security screening at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport without a ticket, but was stopped as he…

May 28, 2008 6:12 PM CDT

Would-Be Suicide Bomber, 14, Explains Why

After his first (and only) four months of schooling, at an Islamic madrassa in Pakistan, Shauker Ullah was ready, at 14, to pursue what religious leaders reportedly told him was his true vocation in life: Becoming a suicide bomber. He didn’t know how to drive a car or read a…

May 27, 2008 6:46 PM CDT

Teen Violence Up in London; ‘Harry Potter’ Actor is Killed

It isn’t just in major cities in the U.S. that recent spates of violence, often attributed to teens and young adults, have sparked concern. A top official at Scotland Yard has warned British parents to find out whether their children are carrying knives, after attacks killed 14 teens in London…

May 27, 2008 5:24 PM CDT

Tenn. Judge Slapped for Harsh Treatment of Immigrant Juvies

Tennessee disciplinary authorities have censured a Tennessee judge for his conduct in cases involving children of illegal immigrants and children he thought might be in U.S. illegally. Dickson County Juvenile Court Judge A. Andrew Jackson faced discipline over his handling of three hearings in 2007, the Tennessean reports. In each…

May 19, 2008 4:30 PM CDT

Family Seeks $207M in Death Suit, $1M Per Minute of Suffering

The family of an East Baltimore teen who died in 2007 at a school for juvenile offenders while counselors attempted to restrain him have filed a wrongful-death suit seeking $207 million. The figure represents $1 million for every minute that Isaiah Simmons III, 17, allegedly suffered while counselors at Bowling…

May 16, 2008 1:59 PM CDT

Military Judge Threatens to Suspend Khadr Terror Trial Over Evidence Issue

A military judge has sided with the defense in pretrial proceedings in the the controversial terrorism case of a Canadian suspect captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan at age 15. Unless the military turns over to defense lawyers by May 22 a prison log of Omar Khadr’s treatment at the…

May 8, 2008 10:17 PM CDT