RECENT CASES

RIGHT TO COUNSEL

State v. Kirk N., 591 S.E.2d 288 (W.Va. 2003)—Parents of a respondent in a juvenile action, though called a “party” in the statute, are not entitled to participate as full and separate parties in the juvenile proceeding, including the right to be separately represented by counsel. As a result, it was erroneous for the trial court to allow both the juvenile’s court-appointed attorney and the parents’ paid attorney to participate in the jury trial at which the juvenile was found delinquent. However, the juvenile has shown no harm from the parents’ attorney’s participation, or that his own counsel’s assistance was rendered ineffective. As a result, the adjudication was affirmed.
http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/fall03/31315.pdf

CONFESSIONS

In re Andre M., __ P.3d __ (Ariz. 2004)—The Arizona Supreme Court reversed a juvenile delinquency adjudication holding that the 16½-year-old juvenile’s confession should have been excluded from evidence. The interview resulting in the confession occurred at the juvenile’s school, and police officers excluded the juvenile’s mother when she attempted to enter the interrogation room. The Arizona court refused to adopt a blanket rule excluding statements when parents are excluded from the interview. It did hold, however, that a “strong inference arises that the state excluded the parent in order to maintain a coercive atmosphere” or to discourage the juvenile from exercising Miranda rights, an inference the prosecution must overcome for the statements to be admissible.
http://www.supreme.state.az.us/opin/pdf2004/CV_03_0228_PR.pdf
(Thanks to Peter Hochuli of the Pima County Attorney’s Office, and to Barbara Marshall of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, for alerting In Re Express to this decision).

AGE OF JURISDICTION

In re Robert J., __ NY2d __ (2004)—In these consolidated cases, the New York Court of Appeals holds that the Family Court may initially order an adjudicated delinquent into Office of Children and Family Services custody for a period beyond his/her 18th birthday, even if the custody is ordered as a result of probation violations long after the adjudication. The respondents had argued that the age-18 limitation on custody orders in the statute governing extensions of custody should apply here since the custody orders were not part of the original dispositions. The Court of Appeals disagreed, holding that there is no such limitation in the statute governing initial custody orders, therefore initial custody orders, whenever they are entered in the case, can require custody up to the delinquent’s 21st birthday.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/ny/cases/app/6263opn04.pdf

Violence Among Girls On The Rise, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER—“There are dog-eared files in every corner of Charles Lind's office, crowding out the space on his small desk, teetering in towers of police reports about teenagers who have pummeled, knifed or threatened one another. Most concern school-related attacks. Dozens of them involve girls. ‘Here's a young woman, 16 years old, who punched another girl in the face and ripped out a chunk of her hair,’ said Lind, describing an attempted robbery at a Renton school in March. ‘Here's a young woman at Highline who told her teacher, 'Someone's going to pop you, and you'll be sorry.’ Lind, coordinator of the King County School Violence Program and senior deputy prosecutor at Juvenile Court, said that of his 18 active cases, seven involve girl-on-girl attacks. … ‘Maybe it's sexist,’ he said. ‘Maybe girls like the ones I'm seeing are just challenging my assumptions that young women shouldn't be threatening each other with brass knuckles, but it troubles me. A lot.’”
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/173133_girlfights13.html

School Discipline Reaching Courts, COURIER-JOURNAL [LOUISVILLE, KY]— “Ordered to leave the Wheatley Elementary School classroom for misbehavior, the 7-year-old first-grader hit and kicked a counselor who tried to remove him. But what happened next, some say, represents a system that likewise is out of control and is causing an increasing number of children — some very young — to wind up in court on criminal charges. The boy — who has a history of emotional problems and was on anti-psychotic medication — was arrested, handcuffed and taken to the Jefferson County Youth Center, according to his mother and lawyer. The charge? Felony assault, making the boy one of the youngest among the growing number of schoolchildren charged under a 2002 state law that makes it a felony for anyone to injure or attempt to injure a school employee… Assistant Jefferson County Attorney Paul Richwalsky, chief of the juvenile division, said he believes that children accused of crime at school need to come before a judge. ‘I don't see where we've got a choice except to bring it to court,’ he said.”
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/05/03ky/A1-conduct0503-12533.html

County Juvenile Justice 'Report Card' Wins Award, BEND [OREGON] BUGLE— “Deschutes County’s Juvenile Community Justice Department has won an award for the creation of a community newsletter called ‘Juvenile Community Justice Report Card’ that is distributed to Deschutes County citizens each year. The award was given to Deschutes County by The National Association of County Information Officers or NACIO.” http://www.bend.com/news/ar_view^3Far_id^3D15207.htm
[Deschutes County is one of four jurisdictions participating in APRI’s Performance Measures National Demonstration project. See http://www.ndaa-apri.org/apri/programs/juvenile/performance_measures.html]

Lollipop Drug Hitting The Streets, CNN.COM—“A narcotic painkiller that looks like a lollipop -- designed to speed relief to cancer patients -- is starting to show up in illegal sales with the nickname ‘perc-a-pop.’ The drug's ease of use and sweet taste have law enforcement officials worried about the potential for abuse. Actiq, a berry-flavored lozenge on a stick, contains the synthetic opioid fentanyl.”
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/04/27/drug.lolly.ap/index.html

Suspect, If Convicted, Would Go Free As A Teen, ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION—“The boy accused of killing 8-year-old Amy Yates can be sentenced to no more than two years in detention if convicted of the brutal slaying — less than some adults get for shoplifting or burglary. Under Georgia law, if the 12-year-old boy is found to have committed the crime and is sentenced, the judge later could extend the sentence for two more years. Still, the prospect of such a relatively quick release from custody for such a heinous killing has already sparked criticism from prosecutors and Amy's relatives. It could also lead to changes in the state's juvenile laws, allowing judges to impose harsher sentences, some prosecutors said Wednesday.”
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0404/29carrlaw.html

The Nation’s Two Crime Measures, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE—There are two primary sources for crime statistics in the U.S., the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). This fact sheet explains the differences between the two databases, particularly describing the areas where they differ and where they are complementary.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ntcm.pdf

Differences between Delinquent Youth with and without a Parental History of Incarceration, ANNE DANNERBECK, PH.D. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA—Research supports the general belief that children of incarcerated parents experience more problems than other children, and are more prone to anti-social conduct. According to Dr. Dannerbeck, some causes might be “the insecurity of economic strain,” the “instability of disruption in their lives as adults move in and out of their homes,” and “a parent whose behavior leads to incarceration may be observed acting in socially deviant ways and the child may use these behaviors as a model for how to behave.”
http://www.mjja.org/images/Children%20of%20Sub%20Abusers.pdf

WEB RESOURCES

Interstate Compact for Juveniles—At this page on the Web site of the Council of State Governments, the Council tracks the progress of enactment of the new Interstate Compact for Juveniles, and has links to the text of the new Compact as well as background information and a “Resource Kit” for use in issues pertaining to the Compact.
http://www.csg.org/CSG/Policy/public+safety+and+justice/interstate+compact+for+juveniles/default.htm

National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth—“The National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth is a national training and technical assistance center developed by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.” On its Web site NCSBY provides information about current research on adolescent sex offenders, their treatment, and assessment tools commonly used to assess the risk of those offenders. NCSBY has assisted APRI in the development of the sex offender curriculum used in our JumpStart and other training courses.
http://ncsby.org/index.htm