|
|
 A NEWSLETTER OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN JUVENILE LAW AND RESEARCH PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL JUVENILE JUSTICE PROSECUTION CENTER
Volume II, Issue 1, January 2004
|
|
RECENT CASES
|
| DISCOVERY |
In re Thomas F., __ Cal. App. 4th __ (Cal. Ct. App. 2003)—A juvenile adjudication for sexual molestation was reversed because the trial court had excluded four defense witnesses on the ground they had not been disclosed to the prosecution. The appellate court held that since California does not recognize a right to “reciprocal discovery”—only the prosecution is required to provide discovery—juvenile respondents are required to disclose trial witnesses only if the court enters a reciprocal discovery order. Since no such order had been entered in this case, the trial court should have permitted the respondent to call his surprise witnesses at trial.
http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2003/h024767.html
|
|
DRUG TESTING
|
|
Theodore v. Delaware Valley School Dist., __ A.2d __ (Pa. Sup. Ct. 2003)—The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down “random, suspicionless” drug screens of high school students involved in extra-curricular activities under the Pennsylvania Constitution. The state court considered the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bd. of Educ. v. Earls, 536 U.S. 822 (2002) and found that the State’s Constitution, though virtually identical in language to the 4th Amendment, afforded Pennsylvania citizens a higher level of privacy than the U.S. Constitution. As a result, the Pennsylvania court struck down the drug testing policy as a violation of the State Constitution.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/pennsylvaniastatecases/supreme/j-97-2003mo.pdf
|
|
COMPETENCY
|
|
Tate v. Florida, __ So. 2d __ (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 4th Dist. 2003)—The Florida Court of Appeals reversed the first-degree murder conviction of Lionel Tate, who was 12 years old at the time of the crime. The Court found “the evidence was clear that the victim was brutally slain,” contrary to Tate’s defense that her injuries occurred when he imitated wrestling moves he saw on TV. The appellate court found, however, that the trial court should have ordered a competency hearing for Tate, even though defense counsel never requested such a hearing or suggested that Tate may not be competent, or at least that the trial court should have granted a post-trial motion for a competency determination.
http://www.4dca.org/Dec2003/12-10-03/4D01-1306.pdf
(Prosecutors have made the same plea offer to Tate which they made, and which Tate rejected, prior to the first trial. News reports indicate Tate has accepted the renewed offer and agreed to plead guilty to murder in the second degree, see http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/7633382.htm).
|
|
|
|
|
Judge Urges Overhaul Of Child Justice, THE AGE (MELBOURNE AUS.)—“The Chief Justice of the Family Court, Alastair Nicholson, has proposed a radical overhaul of Australia's family and child justice systems, calling for a single court to preside over all matters involving children.… Under his proposal for a unified court to deal with children and family issues, the court's jurisdiction would extend to areas ranging from juvenile crime to child abuse, adoption, child support, guardianship, divorce and paternity.… Under today's system, a child could be the subject of proceedings in up to three different courts, he said.”
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/14/1065917412895.html
|
|
State Looks For Cause Behind Crime, THE CLARION-LEDGER (JACKSON, MS)— “State juvenile delinquency experts are learning a key truth: What works to set boys on the straight and narrow won't necessarily work for girls. The state is adjusting its one-size-fits-all policy in a new approach that will focus heavily on factors motivating females to commit crimes.”
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/20/m02.html
|
|
Michigan Bill Would Jail Minors for Drinking, JOIN TOGETHER ONLINE—“In an effort to curb underage drinking, Michigan lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow judges, at their discretion, to send minors to jail after their second conviction of alcohol possession… [State Sen. Tom] George drafted the bill after meeting with law enforcement, saying the current law ‘has no teeth.’” The full text of the legislation passed by the Michigan Senate can be found at http://www.michiganlegislature.org/mileg.asp?page=getObject&objName=2003-SB-0637. For an editorial defending the legislation written by Senator George, go to http://www.lsj.com/opinions/letters/031119_georptv_(mip).html.
|
|
|
|
|
Juvenile Court Statistics 1999, OJJDP—The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has published its most recent annual survey of juvenile court statistics and analysis. This issue presents the data from 1999, and analyzes trends over the preceding decade and over the 20th century.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/201241.pdf
|
|
Children Whose Mothers Are Victimized at Greater Risk for Behavioral Problems, JOIN TOGETHER ONLINE—“Children exposed to their mothers' abuse by an intimate partner are more likely to exhibit aggressive or delinquent behavior as well as other behavioral problems, compared with a representative sample of similarly aged children. This research, by investigators at the Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center and the University of Washington, is published in the November 2003 issue of Child Abuse & Neglect.”
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,567820,00.html
|
|
|
WEB RESOURCES
|
|
Full-Text State Statutes And Legislation—This Web page, maintained by “Prairienet.org” provides links to full-text statutes, legislative and administrative materials, and other similar legal resources for all 50 states and most of the American territories. (Prairienet.org is described on its Web site as a “community information network for Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding East-Central Illinois region, offered as a community service by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign”).
http://www.prairienet.org/~scruffy/f.htm
|
|
SCOTUSBlog—This Web site, actually a web log or “blog,” is maintained by the law firm of Goldstein and Howe, which bills itself on its main Web site as “the nation's only law firm devoted principally to litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States.” Its SCOTUSBlog contains current (updated several times a day) information about cases at the United States Supreme Court, and most importantly, most entries provide links to the briefs, cert petitions, and other court documents filed by the parties.
http://www.goldsteinhowe.com/blog/index.cfm
|
|
|
|
 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. |
|
