California Eyes Three-Strikes Reform to Exclude Juvenile Offenders
The bill’s supporters say changes to the Golden State’s three-strikes scheme will alleviate chronic overcrowding in state prisons.
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juveniles
6 Charged in NH Youth Detention Center Sex Abuse Probe
Six former staffers at New Hampshire’s state-run youth detention center were arrested Wednesday in connection with the abuse of 11 children over the course of a decade, including one who continued working with children for nearly 20 years after he is accused of holding a boy down while colleagues raped him.
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Out of Reach to Teens With a Past, ‘Dreamers’ Bill Draws Critics
The House legislation inspired a competing bill from Republicans that is focused first on border security before any outreach to the 2 million undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children.
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California Supreme Court Rules Teens Under 16 Can’t Be Tried as Adults
California’s emphasis on rehabilitation in juvenile court under a 2018 state law was left to stand under an opinion from the California Supreme Court on Thursday.
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They Killed in 2nd Degree, Now Fighting Life Without Parole
There are only two states in the country where parole is not possible after a second-degree murder conviction. An appeal in Pennsylvania could change that.
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Panel Chucks Gag on Juvenile Felony Records, Keeping Skakel Case Public
Blocking confidentiality rules that sealed juvenile felony cases being tried in adult court, Monday’s ruling assures that the press can report on the retrial of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel.
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Minnesota Juvenile Lifer Walks Free After 18 Years in Prison
A Black man who was sent to prison for life as a teenager took his first steps of freedom to the sound of ringing bells and cheering family members and supporters, hours after a pardons board commuted his sentence in a high-profile murder case.
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Records Law That Will Bar Coverage of Skakel Retrial Put to 2nd Circuit
Connecticut’s largest daily newspaper fought at the Second Circuit on Wednesday against a state rule that has barred access to high-profile juvenile trials like that of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel.
Read moreJuvenile Sentencing
The Second Circuit upheld a 55-year sentence imposed on a defendant who was 15 years old when he was involved in four “execution-style” murders of rival gang members as a member of the MS-13 gang. While the length of the sentence is “especially harsh” for such a young defendant, it was legally reasonable because of how “especially heinous” the killings were.
Read moreAccusations
Comedian Jeff Ross filed a defamation suit in New York against a woman who he says falsely accused him of having a sexual relationship with her when she was a minor.
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Teen Killer Given Life Sentence Fights High Court on Room for Reform
Struggling over whether courts can legally define juveniles as beyond redemption, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on behalf of a teenage boy who killed his grandfather in 2004.
Read moreExcessive Force
A federal court in Texas ruled that excessive force and fabrication of evidence claims may continue against two police officers who shot, without warning, an armed juvenile who had a gun to his own head. The officers shot the boy multiple times and, as an “involuntary reflex to being shot,” the boy pulled the trigger of his own gun, shooting himself in the temple.
Read moreJuvenile Sentencing
Consecutive sentences imposed for separate crimes that exceed a juvenile’s life expectancy are not prohibited, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled, despite U.S. Supreme Court rulings that forbid mandatory life sentences for juvenile homicide offenders and do not allow juvenile offenders to be sentenced to life in prison for non-homicidal crimes.
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Wisconsin Appeals Court Upholds Adult Sentence for Slenderman Stabbing Teen
A Wisconsin appeals court Wednesday upheld the decision to charge a local teenager as an adult for the 2014 attempted murder of her friend and classmate on the orders of Slenderman, a faceless fictional boogeyman.
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Aboriginal Teens Illegally Tear Gassed in Australia Juvenile Jail: Court
Aboriginal teenagers were illegally tear gassed in an Australian juvenile jail, a court ruled Wednesday amid renewed public condemnation over police abuse of indigenous citizens in custody.
Read moreCalifornia Lawmaker Says It’s Time to Stop Charging Juveniles as Adults
A California lawmaker announced Tuesday she is crafting a criminal-justice reform that would bar prosecutors from automatically charging people under age 20 as adults.
Read moreEmpire Filming
A federal court in Illinois denied class certification to youths detained at a Cook County juvenile detention center who say they were required to remain in their living quarters and received delayed responses to medical issues while the television show “Empire” was filming at the facility. The court finds that the current class definition is overbroad.
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Sixth Circuit Allows Juvie Inmates to Sue Over Sexual Assaults
The Sixth Circuit ruled unanimously Wednesday that a muddled grievance process prevented minor inmates in Michigan from filing claims of sexual assault by adult prisoners.
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Alabama Judge Accused of Stealing From Veteran and Juvie Court
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office and the FBI on Thursday arrested a state judge accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars from an elderly veteran and a fund supporting the juvenile court system.
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