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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 7, July 2004
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RECENT CASES
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| MIRANDA |
Yarborough v. Alvarado, 541 U.S. __ (2004)—The United States Supreme Court held that a suspect’s age is not a factor in determining whether he or she was “in custody” under Miranda. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had held that the standard for custody under Miranda—whether a “reasonable person” would believe he or she was not free to leave—should be modified to a “reasonable juvenile person” when the suspect being questioned was under 18. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that there are “important conceptual differences” between the “in custody” determination under Miranda and other legal tests which take into account the suspect’s age. The Supreme Court held the “in custody” test under Miranda is an objective test under which the suspect’s characteristics, including age, are irrelevant. As a result, the Court held, the same standard applies to questioning of juveniles as to questioning of adults. The Supreme Court’s decision was 5-4, with Justice O’Connor filing a brief concurring opinion stating that “there may be cases in which a suspect’s age will be relevant to the Miranda custody inquiry,” but not specifying what those cases might be. She agreed with the majority that with the 17½-year-old suspect in this case, the custody determination should not consider his age.
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-1684.ZS.html
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COMPETENCY
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In re K.G., __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. 2004)—The Indiana Supreme Court held that juvenile delinquency actions may not proceed if the juvenile is not competent. The Court held, however, that the statute governing competency issues in adult criminal cases did not apply to juvenile proceedings since it might require lengthy confinement in mental institutions outside the county in which the juvenile resides. Instead, the court stated, juvenile courts should rely on the Indiana statute authorizing juvenile courts to order mental health examinations and treatment of juveniles.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=in&vol=sc\05200402.rdr&invol=2
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JURISDICTIONAL AGE
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State v. Salavea, __ P.3d __ (Wash. 2004)—The Washington Supreme Court holds that, absent intentional or negligent prosecutorial delay, a defendant’s right to due process is not violated when a case is filed in criminal court after his 18th birthday, even though the crimes alleged occurred before. Even if the delay was due to the prosecutor’s negligence, due process is not violated unless the delay results in actual prejudice. (An earlier case had held that loss of the “benefit” of juvenile court treatment due to delay would be actual prejudice.) In this case, the offense first came to the prosecution’s attention when Salavea was 16, at which time the first degree rape charges would have been filed automatically in criminal court under Washington’s statutes. Hence, there was no prejudice to Salavea even though the crimes were committed when he was 13-15 years old, but not filed until he was 18.
http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=736421MAJ
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Volunteer Advocates Are Little Help, Study Finds, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE—“A nationwide program born of juvenile court's frustration with getting insufficient information from overburdened caseworkers may, at best, have no effect on abused and neglected children, and, at worst, make their lives more difficult. An evaluation of the Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, program, released this week, says children assigned a CASA volunteer are more likely to be placed in foster care and are less likely to return home than similar children without one.”
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04160/328535.stm
For CASA’s response, see http://www.casanet.org/program-management/evaluation/caliber-evaluation.htm
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A Question Of Age, A Matter Of Justice, SEATTLE TIMES—“The 50-cent words flying around Grant County courtrooms over the past year mostly blew right over Jake Lee Eakin's head: Remorse. Presumption of innocence. Appeal. … He does know, however, that a ruling in March made him the youngest person in recent history to be eligible for trial as an adult for murder in Washington. [He was 12 years old at the time of his arrest.] Attorneys for Eakin and a co-defendant, Evan Drake Savoie, asked the state Court of Appeals yesterday to overturn the ruling on the grounds that it ‘threatens the very foundational purposes’ of Washington's separate adult and juvenile-justice systems. … Grant County deputy prosecutor Teresa Chen said the judge used the correct standard, a 1960 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, by demanding likelihood, not an assurance, of rehabilitation. ‘Although there is a tendency to second-guess someone's decision in a case ... where the children are so young, the court's decision is tenable and should be upheld,’ she said.”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2001951733&zsection_id=2001780260&slug=slaying09m&date=20040609
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Study: Youthful Offenders Are Often the Victims of Abuse, TOLEDO BLADE—“Out of 202 children who were incarcerated for more than six months in 2002 and 2003, 180 were in the files of Children Services. More research is being done to determine why the children came into contact with the agency, but at 90 percent, a clear connection was established.… Denise Cubbon, head of the juvenile division of the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office and a candidate for juvenile court judge, said the possibility of intervention is what makes juvenile court gratifying. Involved with the juvenile court system for 22 years, she said she has seen how important it is to break the cycle of abuse and neglect by addressing problems with children as soon as possible. ‘At least in juvenile court—even though we have some serious violent offenders—there is a segment of kids that you can say, 'Maybe there's an opportunity to save them,' Ms. Cubbon said.”
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040608/NEWS02/406080304/-1/NEWS
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Caught in the Crossfire: Arresting Gang Violence by Investing in Kids, FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS—This report from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, an organization of law enforcement, prosecutors, and crime victims, proposes a 3-step plan to reduce gang violence and other crime. It is based, in part, on programs implemented in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baton Rouge, which the report says have been successful in reducing gang-related homicides and other crimes.
http://www.fightcrime.org/reports/gangreport.pdf
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America After 3PM, AFTERSCHOOL ALLIANCE—In many places the peak time for juvenile delinquent behavior is the afternoon hours immediately after school is over. The Afterschool Alliance, a non-profit agency which describes itself as “dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of afterschool programs and advocating for quality, affordable programs for all children” has released the results of its study of after school activities for children in grades K-12. The survey found that 34% of middle school age children, and 52% of high school students, are in “self care,” or unsupervised after 3 p.m. Less than 10% of the children in those age groups were involved in organized after school activities.
http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/america_3pm.cfm
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Children and the Households They Live In, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU—This report, based on the data collected in the 2000 census, provides detailed information about the living arrangements of children under age 18 in the U.S., such as numbers of children living in single parent homes, numbers of children living in grandparents’ homes, numbers of children living in poverty, etc. The statistics are broken down by counties within states, and the report contains useful tables and graphical representations of the information.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-14.pdf
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WEB RESOURCES
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Stop Bullying Now, Take Time to Talk about Bullying—These two new government-sponsored Web sites provide information about bullying and bullying-prevention programs. The “Stop Bullying Now” Web site is managed by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is oriented toward a youth audience. The “Take Time to Talk” site is directed to adults working with children who may bully or be victims of bullies.
http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/15plus/aboutbullying.asp
http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/main/index.asp
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National Youth Gang Center—This Web site, maintained by the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, contains extensive information about youth gangs which may be useful to prosecutors. Included on the Web site are gang-related news, free publications about gangs and gang prevention and control programs, links to governmental Web sites with information about gangs and gang program funding opportunities, compilations of state statutes and other laws pertaining to gangs, and information about training opportunities.
http://www.iir.com/nygc/default.htm
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JumpSTART Training
APRI presents the JumpSTART training course for newly assigned juvenile prosecutors. The JumpSTART Training Course is taught by experienced juvenile prosecutors and other experts, such as mental health and animal cruelty professionals. The purpose of the course is to develop juvenile justice as a specialized prosecutorial field, to help juvenile prosecutors understand their important responsibilities, and to teach practical skills for prosecuting juvenile cases.
The last opportunity for JumpSTART in 2004 is August 5-7 in Memphis, Tennessee. To register, go to http://www.ndaa-apri.org/education/apri/jumpstart_memphis_august_2004.html
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| Special Edition of In Re Express
Next month’s In Re Express will be a Special Edition reviewing the 2004 term of U.S. Supreme Court. We’ll provide synopses and links to the Court’s decisions in all of the substantive and procedural criminal cases of the term which concludes in July.
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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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