Juvenile Justice

486 ABA Journal Juvenile Justice articles.

WA, Not Parents to Fund Child Mental Care?

In a ruling that could help struggling families, the Washington Supreme Court says the state must help some children who need mental health services even if their parents aren’t unfit. Ordinarily, parents must care for their children unless they abuse or neglect them. But after “Henry’s” parents paid some $200,000…

Oct 12, 2007 11:17 PM CDT

Jena Six Teen Back in Jail

Mychal Bell, one of the six teens at the center of the Jena Six civil rights controversy, is back in jail. Yesterday Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. ordered Bell to serve 18 months in jail, saying his participation in the beating of a white classmate violated probation for a previous juvenile…

Oct 12, 2007 10:44 AM CDT

Boy, 10, Freed in Fatal Arson; ‘A Victim’

A 10-year-old boy who is accused of having set an Ohio fire that killed five people, including his mother, has been ordered released to his maternal grandmother’s custody. The boy’s mother died in the fire along with his 8-year-old sister and three other children, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. Hence, in…

Oct 1, 2007 9:24 PM CDT

Stranger Posted Bell’s Bond in Jena 6 Case

Although he had never met Mychal Bell, a doctor living elsewhere in the state posted the bond the 17-year-old needed to get out of jail and return home to the tiny town of Jena, La. Meanwhile, others also offered to do so, too, according to Bell’s lawyer. As a result,…

Sep 28, 2007 11:17 PM CDT

State Backs Down in Jena 6 Case

The prosecution in a controversial case against one of the so-called Jena Six defendants has accepted a Louisiana appellate court ruling that he should be tried as a juvenile. Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time that he and five other black high school students allegedly attacked a white…

Sep 27, 2007 12:50 AM CDT

FBI Investigates White Backlash re Jena

A white backlash reportedly is under way against six African-American high school students in Jena, La., who are being prosecuted in what many perceive as a racially discriminatory manner. The FBI is investigating apparent Internet threats made against some of the six defendants in a racially charged high school attack…

Sep 25, 2007 4:04 PM CDT

Discipline Study: Schools Unfair to Blacks

Nationwide statistics show that African-American students are disciplined far more than they should be, based on their percentage in the overall public school population. Yet the federal office charged with investigating such discipline disparities doesn’t seem to be focusing on the issue. “In every state but Idaho … black students…

Sep 25, 2007 3:27 PM CDT

Child, 9, Accused in Toddler’s Death

A 9-year-old boy has been accused of beating a toddler in the head at a New Jersey day-care center and causing his death. The child was charged with the juvenile equivalent of aggravated manslaughter in the death of 11-month-old Tahir Francis, who died last week, the New York Times reports.…

Aug 30, 2007 5:46 PM CDT

House Ethics Bill Passes in 411-8 Vote

Legislation hailed as the most sweeping Congressional ethics reform since the Watergate era of the 1970s passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 411-8 majority yesterday and appears poised for approval in the Senate. Drafted, ironically, behind closed doors, the ethics bill for the first time requires lawmakers to…

Aug 1, 2007 9:55 PM CDT

Gang Issues Up as ‘Boston Miracle’ Fades

Back in the 1990s, Sinbad from the X-men, the Mayor from Castlegate, and Butch from Intervale were hailed as critical components of the “Boston Miracle,” an innovative crime-fighting effort featuring former gang members that was credited with an almost unbelievable 80-percent reduction in the city’s homicide rate during the ’90s.…

Jul 19, 2007 8:45 PM CDT

Diversity Issue Heats Up in Miami Courts

A simmering controversy over a series of insensitive remarks recently made by Miami area judges has heated up further, following the resignation of a Broward County jurist chairing the court’s newly created diversity board. Elijah H. Williams, the first black to be appointed to the Broward County bench in 20…

Jul 18, 2007 8:35 PM CDT

Girls in Jail Need Beauty, Kind Words

Throughout the country, prisons are run in a paramilitary manner that seems to work for men. But it’s not nearly as effective for young women, experts believe. So, as the number of girls in jail goes up, juvenile authorities in Illinois have been developing new kind of lock-up for young…

Jul 16, 2007 6:35 PM CDT

Ghana: British Girls, 16, Smuggled Drugs

Two 16-year-old girls in London told their parents they were taking a short trip across the English Channel to France in late June for a six-day school trip. In fact, they went to Ghana, where they are now being held on charges of having attempted to smuggle $300,000 pounds worth…

Jul 12, 2007 8:13 PM CDT

Police: Mom Drove Son, 14, to Murder

Too young to drive, a 14-year-old gang member in California allegedly was chauffeured by his mother, along with six buddies, to a Long Beach park on June 25 in order to murder a 13-year-old there. They allegedly stabbed Jose Cano to death, and now Eva Daley, 30, and the seven…

Jul 12, 2007 3:07 AM CDT

Girl, 11, in DUI Case, Clocks 100 in Chase

An 11-year-old Florida girl has been charged with drunken driving after a high-speed chase in Alabama in which she clocked more than 100 mph before sideswiping another vehicle and crashing her family’s car. The girl, whose name wasn’t released because she is a juvenile, also faces charges of speeding, leaving…

Jul 6, 2007 8:45 PM CDT

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