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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 11, November 2004
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RECENT CASES
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| DEATH PENALTY |
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DETENTION
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Dep’t of Human Services v. Mainard, __ S.W.3d __ (Ark. 2004)—The Arkansas Supreme Court granted a writ of habeas corpus to a juvenile who had been ordered into detention for violating a order to remain in his dependency court placement. When the juvenile left placement, he was charged with contempt and placed in detention, but was represented at the hearing only by a “counsel ad litem.” The Court held that the absence of defense counsel at the contempt hearing made the court’s order of detention illegal on its face, and therefore in violation of the statutory prohibition on detaining children who are the subject of a dependency proceeding with juvenile offenders.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ar&vol=supreme/2004a/20040624/04-515&invol=2
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TRANSFER TO CRIMINAL COURT
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Cook v. Commonwealth, 597 S.E.2d 84 (Va. 2004)—Defendant was properly tried by indictment in criminal court without a juvenile court transfer hearing even though he was 17 when the offense was committed. Three prior charges against him had been certified to criminal court, though all three were ultimately dismissed by nolle prosequi. Defendant had argued that since none of those cases went to trial or other conclusion, the juvenile court retained jurisdiction. The Virginia transfer statute states that “trial or treatment” of a juvenile in adult court permanently deprives the juvenile court of jurisdiction over that person. The Virginia Court of Appeals held that the statute’s use of the word “treatment” means that whenever adult proceedings are properly commenced against a juvenile, he has been “treated” as an adult, and will no longer be entitled to juvenile court proceedings.
http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1031830.pdf
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PROBATION CONDITIONS
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In re Byron B., 14 Cal.Rptr.3d 805 (Cal. App. 2004)—The Court upheld a probation condition that Respondent avoid association with any person “disapproved” by his parents or probation officers. The Court found that term much more specific than a requirement to avoid association with any person “not approved,” which had been held to be overbroad in an earlier case.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/e034871.pdf
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NEWS AND INFORMATION
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Rehabilitating Juvenile Justice, NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE—“Many of Missouri's hard-core young criminals eventually end up in one of the state's locked-down institutions, graduating to the secure facility for committing a violent crime or being a chronic offender. In most states, that would mean walking into the stark surroundings and often brutal atmosphere of an adult penitentiary. But once past the fastened double doors and tall wire fence at Missouri's Northwestern Regional Youth Center, the scene is more like summer camp or a college dorm than prison.… This is the model of juvenile justice that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco wants to import to the Bayou State. She has gone so far as to hire [Missouri's Division of Youth Services Director Mark] Steward and his top staff members to evaluate Louisiana's system and offer suggestions on how to make it more like Missouri's. It has become a priority of her administration. ‘The juvenile justice system really, really needed to be revamped,’ Blanco said. ‘The recidivism rate is way too high.’”
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-2/109678483218790.xml
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Plenty Of Work On Streets For Truancy Patrol, [ALBANY] TIMES UNION—“On the third day of Albany's new crackdown on truancy, finding kids playing hooky was no harder than driving around the block with your eyes open. Bringing them in was another story.…Under the truancy abatement program, which started Monday and is being run jointly with the school district, truants are taken into custody and kept at the youth center until a parent or guardian gets them and takes them to school. Eventually, the district will run a bus from the center.”
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=290471&category=ALBANY&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=9/30/2004
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Terror in Our Streets, Los Angeles Newspaper Group—This Web site contains dozens of articles, videos, and other information on the gangs of Southern California was prepared by a group of seven newspapers and other news organizations.
http://lang.dailynews.com/gangs/
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RESEARCH
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Youth Gangs in Rural America, NIJ JOURNAL—This article is an abbreviated version of a report of a nationwide study of the number and locations of youth gangs in non-urban settings.
http://ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/jr000251b.pdf
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Alive at 25: Reducing Youth Violence Through Monitoring and Support, PUBLIC/PRIVATE VENTURES—This report describes the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership, a Philadelphia, PA, program that provides youth at high risk of committing or being victimized by serious violent crime with intensive services designed to divert them away from violence and toward productive adulthood. The program is co-chaired by Philadelphia Deputy District Attorney, and NJJPC Advisory Board member, John Delaney. According to the report the program has contributed to a reduction in homicides in the two districts where it operates.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/174_publication.pdf
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Juvenile Justice, OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION—OJJDP has resumed publication of its journal, “Juvenile Justice,” highlighting results of its Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency, a longitudinal study of the causes of delinquent behavior. This issue also includes an article on the influence of gangs on early delinquency.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/203555.pdf
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2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION—SAMHSA’s annual report on drug use and health has been released and posted on the Internet. Among the findings are the following:
- In 2003, an estimated 19.5 million Americans, or 8.2 percent of the population aged 12 or older, were current illicit drug users.
- The rate of current illicit drug use among youths aged 12 to 17 did not change significantly between 2002 (11.6 percent) and 2003 (11.2 percent), and there were no changes for any specific drug.
- There was a significant increase in lifetime nonmedical use of pain relievers between 2002 and 2003 among persons aged 12 or older, from 29.6 million to 31.2 million.
- About 10.9 million persons aged 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol in the month prior to the survey interview in 2003 (29.0 percent of this age group).
http://oas.samhsa.gov/nhsda.htm#NHSDAinfo
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WEB RESOURCES
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Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative—The Office of Justice Programs has an initiative underway to research issues related to the return of offenders, adult and juvenile, to the community after their incarceration, and to provide resources for programs to reduce recidivism and other problems associated with those individuals. At this Web site, OJP collects information about the initiative, information about resources including funding opportunities, and links to publications and other related Web sites.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reentry/whatsnew.html
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National Health, Mental Health and Safety Guidelines for Schools—A group of organizations, led by American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses, developed these guidelines, which they describe as intended “to help those who influence the health and safety of students and school staff while they are in school, on school grounds, on their way to or from school, and involved in school-sponsored activities.” APRI commented on drafts of the Guidelines. They are available online at this Web site.
http://www.nationalguidelines.org/
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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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