Miller v. Alabama: One Year Later

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Last year, the Supreme Court declared mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles to be unconstitutional. A year after the landmark ruling, how have the nation’s juvenile justice systems been impacted?

Supreme Court Sends Affirmative Action Case Back to Lower Court

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The Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling Monday in Fisher v. University of Texas, a case with broad implications on the use of affirmative action policies in college admissions processes. In a 7-1 ruling, the Supreme Court vacated and remanded an earlier Court of Appeals judgment after affirming the limited use of racially-based factors in university admissions. The case involves Abigail Fisher, a white Sugar Land, Texas, resident whose 2008, University of Texas application was rejected. Fisher, then a high school senior, later sued the university, claiming her application was denied because of the university’s use of affirmative action policies. Although the ruling says the policies must be strictly reviewed, the ruling does not forbid universities from using affirmative action policies.

Massachusetts Judges to Get Long-Awaited Pay Increase

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Juvenile court judges and their clerks in Massachusetts will see more money in their paychecks in 2014 thanks to a provision in the recently passed $34 billion budget. The phased-in salary increases, the first for judges and clerks since 2006, will total $23 million annually, about 2 percent of the 2014 budget. The budget will increase the salaries of regular associate judges from nearly $130,000 annually to almost $160,000 -- an increase of approximately 23 percent. The Republican reports that under the new budget -- which  Gov. Deval Patrick said he will sign next month -- trial court clerk salaries will increase by 22 percent, from $110,000 to approximately $135,000. Assistant court clerks will see their salaries increase by nearly $19,000, and first assistant clerks by $20,000.

New Report Reveals Sexual Victimization Rates in U.S. Juvenile Facilities

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The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has released a new report detailing rates of sexual victimization in the nation’s juvenile facilities.

The report, incorporating data from the 2012 National Survey of Youth in Custody, found that nearly one in 10 young people in state-operated or state-contracted juvenile facilities reported at least one sexual victimization incident last year.