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 A NEWSLETTER OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN JUVENILE LAW AND RESEARCH PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL JUVENILE JUSTICE PROSECUTION CENTER
Volume I, Issue 3, September 2003
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RECENT CASES
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| “THREE STRIKES” STATUTES |
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SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION
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In re Ronnie A., Opinion No. 25696 (S.C. Sup. Ct., August 11, 2003)—South Carolina joins other states in affirming the inclusion of juvenile offenders on the state’s sex offender registry, in this case applied to an 11-year-old juvenile adjudicated delinquent for a sexual incident when he was 9. The justices unanimously ruled that forcing the boy to register after he was adjudicated delinquent on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct committed when he was 9 years old does not violate due process.
http://www.judicial.state.sc.us/opinions/advSheets/no302003.pdf (The Ronnie A. opinion is at page 60 of the .pdf document).
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RESTITUTION/DISPOSITION HEARINGS
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In re Delric H., 819 A.2d 1117 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2003)—Juvenile courts in Maryland are not required to comply with the Maryland Rules of Evidence in restitution hearings. The Court held the rules applicable to similar hearings in criminal court did not apply in juvenile court, and that judges had discretion “in the interest of justice, to decline strict application” of the evidence rules.
http://www.courts.state.md.us/opinions/cosa/2003/2027s01.pdf
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OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Initiatives, OJJDP Juvenile Justice Bulletin Series—While the rates of violent juvenile crime have declined nationally over the past decade, they continue to increase in Indian Country. In addition, many other delinquency risk factors are high for Native Americans, including poverty and alcohol and drug abuse. As a result, OJJDP has begun several “Tribal Youth Initiative” programs to address issues of juvenile delinquency by Native American youth, and they are outlined in this Bulletin.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/193763.pdf
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Girls and the Juvenile Justice System, National Public Radio—NPR broadcast a four-part series over July and August on issues pertaining to female offenders in the juvenile justice system. The series looked at detention centers for female offenders in Florida and Massachusetts, at the problem of teenage prostitution, and the rising rate of violent female offenders. The NPR Web site offers links to the NPR archives to replay the series, as well as links to other stories and Web locations with related information.
http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1393770.html
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BORN TO BE WILD: Punk Kid, His Parents Overcome Tough Start, Asahi Shimbun News Service—In this article a Japanese news service reports on a growing juvenile delinquency problem in Japan, and some programs which have been initiated in response. The article focuses on the view of many in Japan that a rise in juvenile delinquency there may be a result of poor parenting. As a result, delinquency prevention programs focusing on parents have started there.
http://www.asahi.com/english/weekend/K2003080900203.html
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“Schools to target ‘bad’ kids for prison,” Chicago Tribune—A new Illinois law requires the Chicago Public Schools to identify students who are at risk of committing criminal acts in the future, and arranging for them to tour a prison. “It's very clear to me that we have 11- and 12- and 13-year-olds now engaged in serious crime, much of it gang crime," said State Sen. Rickey Hendon, a sponsor of the law. "We get those young people before and not just hand them over to the criminal element out there and let them win."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0308190228aug19,1,7513310.story?coll=chi-news-hed
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Teens Put Family Members Atop Their Lists Of Role Models, CNN.com—A new survey of teenagers, reported by CNN.com, indicates that “almost 75 percent of high school students say they get along very well or even extremely well with their parents or guardians.” Less than ten percent of the responding teenagers also said that they feel “major” pressure to use drugs or have sex.
http://www.horatioalger.com/pdfs/state01.pdf
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Juvenile Felony Defendants in Criminal Courts, Bureau of Justice Statistics—In this report BJS summarizes charge and conviction data from the 40 largest “urban counties” in the U.S. for 1998. The report shows that nearly two-thirds of all juveniles prosecuted in adult criminal court in the surveyed counties were prosecuted for “serious felonies,” compared to only 25% of the adults prosecuted during the same period.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/jfdcc98.pdf
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NASRO Annual Survey, National Association of School Resource Officers—NASRO has released its Third Annual Survey of its membership, and it does not present a very optimistic picture of school safety. A significant majority of the members indicated that they believe that “significant school safety threats” persist, including both internal school violence and external threats from terrorism. The NASRO survey also states that a significant majority of School Resource Officers believe that crime on school campuses is under-reported to police.
http://www.nasro.org/2003NASROsurvey.pdf
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WEB RESOURCES
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National Youth Court Center—September is Youth Court Month. The National Youth Court Center has abundant information and resources on Youth Courts (also known by other names like Teen Courts), as well as an “Action Kit” of information about events and activities related to Youth Court Month.
http://www.youthcourt.net
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National Association of School Resource Officers—NASRO, the national trade association for School Resource Officers, maintains this website on which it makes available useful information such as its annual survey of members discussed above. The website also has news of interest to anyone involved in school safety, and information about training opportunities.
http://www.nasro.org/home.asp
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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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