Juvenile Law Center briefed and argued the question of the constitutionality of a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole imposed on a 17-year-old in Alabama.
Argued for a specific jury instruction addressing the susceptibility of a 16-year-old to duress because of his level of maturity and limited decision-making capacity.
Challenged the zero-tolerance approach to student misbehavior where a teen was sentenced to 100 days in juvenile detention for distributing a poem that mentioned bringing guns to school.
Argued that the court should recognize a youth’s constitutional right to a jury trial when he faces public sex offender registration upon conviction of sex offenses under Kansas’ juvenile court statute.
Certiorari denied in case involving Miranda warnings and whether a youth’s right to a jury trial was violated by a law allowing the imposition of adult sentences on the basis of judicial fact-finding.
Argued that a sentence of 110 years to life (three consecutive life-terms) for a non-homicide offense committed as a juvenile violates the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Graham v. Florida.
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