West Virginia Eases Strict Truancy Law
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After an aggressive campaign against the truancy law by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, state lawmakers have voted to ease the law, perhaps the strictest in the nation.
A Portrait of the Artist As a Juvenile Lifer
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WAYNESBURG, Pa. — The boy loved to walk in the woods.
Five years ago, Kenneth Carl Crawford III returned to that woods behind his childhood home in Oklahoma, but only in his mind — the only way he can go back now, perhaps the only way he’ll ever go there again in his time on this Earth.
Supreme Court to Weigh Retroactivity of Mandatory JLWOP
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WASHINGTON – A U.S. Supreme Court decision could forever alter the landscape of sentences of mandatory juvenile life without parole, potentially leading to resentencing hearings for some 2,100 convicted murderers.
DOJ Weighs in on Georgia Juvenile Indigent Defense Suit
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For the first time, the U.S. Department of Justice has intervened in a state lawsuit alleging juvenile defendants have been routinely denied adequate representation.
UN Report Faults Practices Common in U.S. Juvenile Justice
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WASHINGTON — The United Nations top investigator on torture has delivered a scathing criticism of juvenile justice practices common in the United States, including routine detention of youths, solitary confinement and sentences of life without parole for children.
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Miller Retroactivity Issue
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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in which it will decide whether to apply retroactively its landmark 2012 Miller v. Alabama decision, declaring unconstitutional mandatory sentences of juvenile life without parole.
Advocates Laud Florida Supreme Court Decisions
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WASHINGTON — Juvenile justice advocates hailed Friday four key Florida Supreme Court decisions on life without parole and other extremely long sentences imposed on children.
High Court Asked to Weigh Miller Retroactivity
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WASHINGTON — Six petitions have been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to consider whether its landmark 2012 Miller v. Alabama ruling declaring mandatory sentences of juvenile life without parole unconstitutional should apply to cases decided before the ruling.
New Guidelines Aim to Strengthen Defense in Juvenile Life Cases
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The Washington-based nonprofit Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY) released the 24-page “Trial Defense Guidelines: Representing a Child Client Facing a Possible Life Sentence” in response to findings of the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 2012 Miller v. Alabama decision.
Grassley OJJDP Probe Widens, Implicating 6 States, 2 Territories
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, has widened his inquiry into whistleblowers’ claims of fraud and mismanagement in the awarding of grants from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
In a seven-page letter Friday to Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, Grassley outlined allegations by whistleblowers that oversight failures may have led to unlawful OJJDP grants to Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C.