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 A NEWSLETTER OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN JUVENILE LAW AND RESEARCH PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL JUVENILE JUSTICE PROSECUTION CENTER
Volume II, Issue 4, April 2004
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RECENT CASES
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| CONFRONTATION CLAUSE/HEARSAY |
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Crawford v. Washington, __ U.S. __ (March 8, 2004)—The Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause prevents the admission of out-of-court “testimonial” statements where the defendant has not had an opportunity to cross-examine the witness, whether or not the statement fits a hearsay exception, largely overruling Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56 (1980). The Court refused to fully define “testimonial” but held that “it applies at a minimum to prior testimony at a preliminary hearing, before a grand jury, or at a former trial; and to police interrogations.” (emphasis added.) The Court also stated that its ruling “casts doubt” on the holding in White v. Illinois, 502 U.S. 346 (1992) which had allowed the introduction of out-of-court statements by a child sexual abuse victim under the hearsay exceptions for spontaneous declarations and statements made in the course of medical treatment. http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/02-9410P.ZO
APRI’s National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse has published as part of its Update series an analysis of the Crawford decision, which offers invaluable insights into the effects of the decision. The Update can be found at http://www.ndaa-apri.org/publications/newsletters/update_index.html.
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| CONFESSIONS/EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL |
A.M. v. Butler, __ F.3d __ (7th Cir. 2004)—The Seventh Circuit Federal Court of Appeals affirmed a federal district court’s grant of a habeas corpus petition in this case of a state court juvenile adjudication for murder on the ground that the juvenile’s counsel was ineffective because he failed to move to suppress the juvenile’s confession. The Seventh Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, held that the confession was involuntary and clearly violated Miranda, citing Alvarado v. Hickman, 316 F.3d 841 (9th Cir.), a case previously accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Easterbrook dissented, strongly criticizing the majority’s analysis of all the main issues presented.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/022882p.pdf
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JUVENILE DEATH SENTENCE
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Johnson v. Commonwealth, __ S.E.2d __ (Va. Sup. Ct. 2004)—The Virginia Supreme Court rejected a request to “anticipate” that the Supreme Court would overrule its holding in Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361 (1989), and hold that the Eighth Amendment forbids execution of murderers who were 16 or 17 when they committed their crimes. The Virginia court stated “When a precedent of the Supreme Court has direct application in a case, we are not at liberty to ignore that precedent.…” By so holding, the Virginia court reached an opposite conclusion to the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision in Simmons v. Roper. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the Missouri case, as reported in last month’s In Re Express.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=va&vol=1031306&invol=1
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Criminologists Find Link Between Animal Cruelty, Later Violence, MIAMI HERALD—“Criminologists have long believed there's a link between animal cruelty and violence toward humans. A recently published book by University of South Florida professor Kathleen Heide and animal activist Linda Merz-Perez provides new research into the connection. The study of 45 violent inmates in Florida prisons and 45 prisoners serving time for drug and property offenses found more than half of the violent offenders had committed animal cruelty as children. By comparison, just 20 percent of the nonviolent offenders had a history of attacking animals.”
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8065863.htm
[NOTE: A section on prosecution of animal cruelty and the connection to interpersonal violence, taught primarily by Dr. Randall Lockwood, Vice-President of The Humane Society of the United States, has long been a regular feature of APRI’s JumpStart course. Dr. Lockwood wrote the Foreword to the book presenting the research discussed in the Miami Herald article. To reach the publisher’s Web site to purchase Drs. Heide’s and Merz-Perez’s book, Animal Cruelty: Pathway to Violence Against People, follow this link http://www.altamirapress.com/ISBN/0759103046.]
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Judges Help Ease Boycott Backlog, FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM—“To avert a possible shutdown of the juvenile justice system, Tarrant County's family court judges are hearing cases caught up in the boycott of three associate judges by defense attorneys and prosecutors.…Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Curry alerted officials in January that his prosecutors were boycotting the courtroom of Associate Judge Kim Brown, saying that her rulings were "not in the best interest of public safety." Prosecutors began the boycott Jan. 29, saying they believed that Brown was releasing some defendants too quickly, and without sanctions. Last week, defense lawyers called for their own boycott of not only Brown but also associate judges Tim Menikos and Ellen Smith to highlight what they say is the "destructive nature" of the prosecutors' walkout. Both sides are using a legal provision that allows them to ask that a state district judge, and not an associate, hear their cases. By boycotting the three associate judges, the prosecutors and attorneys would have forced Boyd to personally hear each case.”
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/8113378.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
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Bill Would Outlaw Bullying At Schools, ARIZONA REPUBLIC—“Arizona is one of 31 states that does not have specific anti-bullying legislation, but one of nine that is considering a change. [A pending] bill would require school districts to enact anti-harassment and bullying policies.… School officials noted that Arizona school districts already have state-mandated anti-hazing policies and federally mandated anti-harassment policies. And when bullying gets physical, children can be charged with assault. But the Arizona School Boards Association is supporting the bill to make sure every school in the state has strong policies to deal with bullies.”
http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/articles/0226bullying26.html#
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Governor: Allow Parole For Kids Tried As Adults, MIAMI HERALD—“In a powerful boost to the effort to keep children who commit murder from spending the rest of their lives in prison, Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday he favors changing the state's sentencing laws used on kids tried as adults. The governor's position gives new life to a measure proposed by state Sen. Steve Geller, a Hallandale Beach Democrat whose bill would allow children younger than 16 a chance at parole after they serve at least eight years of a life sentence. The proposal, inspired by the case of Lionel Tate, would apply only to children with no previous criminal record who have been convicted as adults of murder or other crimes that carry life sentences.”
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8222773.htm
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Sex, Drugs, and Delinquency in Urban and Suburban Public Schools, THE MANHATTAN INSTITUTE—In this “Education Working Paper” the authors review data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and find that there are no significant differences between the rates of teenage sex, alcohol and drug use, and delinquent behavior, between students at urban and suburban schools. According to the authors, “The comforting outward signs of order and decency in suburban public schools don’t seem to be associated with substantial differences in student behavior.”
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/ewp_04.pdf
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Protective Factors Against Serious Violent Behavior in Adolescence: A Prospective Study of Aggressive Children, SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH, vol. 27, p. 179—A study by researchers at the University of Washington has concluded that “protective factors,” including attendance at religious services, good “family management” by parents, and “bonding to school” and academic achievement, reduce the level of violent behavior by aggressive children when they became older. The results of the study are published in the September, 2003 edition of the journal, Social Work Research, a publication of the National Association of Social Workers. The Journal is available in many public libraries, and reprints of the article can be obtained for a small fee from the NASW by calling 1-800-638-8799, ext. 341. A news report about the findings can be found at http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040306-120138-6232r.htm.
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MDMA (Ecstasy) Fact Sheet, OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL AND POLICY—This Fact Sheet, published by the ONDCP, provides detailed information about the “designer drug,” Ecstasy. In addition to descriptions of its chemical properties and its effects, the Fact Sheet describes trafficking patterns and enforcement efforts.
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/ncj201387.pdf
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WEB RESOURCES
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School Survey on Crime and Safety—The National Center for Education Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department of Education, has created this Web site for the dissemination of the school crime statistics it collects. Included on the site are results of the agency’s national surveys of elementary and primary school violence and safety concerns, previously reported under the “Indicators of School Crime and Safety” title (see December, 2003 In Re Express) and other titles. The Web site offers both compilations, summaries, and reports based on the data, and the raw “public use” data itself.
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/index.asp
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Statistical Briefing Book— The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Statistical Briefing Book (SBB) provides online access to information about juvenile crime and victimization and about youth involved in the juvenile justice system. The SBB has recently been redesigned for OJJDP by the National Center for Juvenile Justice. In addition, the data analysis and dissemination tools available through SBB give users quick and easy access to detailed statistics on a variety of juvenile justice topics.
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/index.html
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TWO TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
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- Adolescent Brain, Columbus, Ohio, May 6-8, 2004—The goal of APRI’s Adolescent Brain workshop is to educate prosecutors and other juvenile justice professionals about the pressing need for accurate diagnosis and treatment of mental health problems in juveniles, the complicated legal issues that attend those problems and the impact of these mental health problems on the prosecution of serious and violent juvenile offenders.
- Jumpstart, Memphis, Tennessee, August 5-7, 2004—The JumpStart course covers a wide range of juvenile prosecution subjects and is specifically designed to benefit prosecutors who have been assigned to juvenile court prosecution for one year or less, though registration is not limited.
More information and registration is available on APRI’s Web site at http://www.ndaa-apri.org/education/ndaa/juvenile_justice_training_schedule.html
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 This information is offered for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. This project was supported by Award No. 2002-MU-MU-0003 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the United States Department of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the National District Attorneys Association, or the American Prosecutors Research Institute. |
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