Legal Docket

Use the filters on the left to browse our legal docket.  For more information on race equity arguments, use this tool.

Date
1 - 10 of 449 resultsReset
Keeping Kids in the Community

Bolch v. Stein

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit •
Juvenile Law Center joined the National Association of Counsel for Children, the ACLU, and Youth Law Center in an amicus brief challenging rigid “next friend” requirements that prevent children in the foster system from being able to seek help from the federal courts.
Solitary Confinement & Harsh Conditions

Howard v. Texas

Eighth District Court of Appeals of Texas •
Michael Anthony Howard was sentenced as an adult to 70 years in prison for murder. He was 15 years old at the time of the offense. Texas law requires Mr. Howard to serve 30 years in prison before he may be eligible for parole. Mr. Howard’s case is now on appeal before Texas’ Eighth Court of Appeals.
Keeping Kids in the Community

In re M.H.

Ohio District Courts of Appeal •
The trial court found M.H., an eleven-year-old girl, incompetent to stand trial yet ordered her detained in the local juvenile detention center for competency restoration. Juvenile Law Center, The Gault Center, and Professor Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno, represented by pro bono counsel Adam VanHo, submitted an amicus brief arguing that detaining M.H. was dangerous and counter-productive.
Decriminalization

ELIZABETH MIRABELLI, et al. v. ROB BONTA, et al.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit •
Juvenile Law Center joined the National Center for Youth Law and 16 other human rights advocacy organizations in signing this amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse a district court ruling that would require California teachers to disclose their students’ gender-identity information to parents without the students’ consent.
Keeping Kids in the Community

J.T. et al. v. City and County of San Francisco

United States District Court Northern District of California •
J.T. et al. v. City and County of San Francisco is a class-action lawsuit arising out of the San Francisco Police Department's roundup arrest of over 100 young people at an informal skateboarding event in San Francisco, where youth who were skateboarding, observing, and merely passing through the area were kettled into an intersection and arrested without individualized probable cause.
Youth Tried as Adults

People v. Malone

Michigan Court of Appeals •

Juvenile Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed an amicus brief in the Michigan Court of Appeals arguing that Kenneth Malone’s registration under the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act violated the Michigan constitution’s prohibition against “cruel or unusual” punishment, which has been found to be stronger than the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Keeping Kids in the Community

E.L. et al. v. Adams County Sheriff Gene Claps, et al.

Colorado Supreme Court •
Juvenile Law Center, National Association of Counsel for Children and other amici partners have submitted two briefs in support of Plaintiffs in E.L. et al. v. Adams County Sheriff Gene Claps, et al. in support of Plaintiffs' appeal of the lower court’s decision to deny their motion for a preliminary injunction.
Youth Tried as Adults

People v. Eads

Michigan Supreme Court •
We argued that a 50-to-75-year term of years sentence for 2nd degree murder imposed on a youthful offender constitutes cruel or unusual punishment in violation of the Michigan Constitution. We further argued that lengthy sentences for adolescents are rare in Michigan, almost exclusively imposed on Black and Brown youth, out of step with the practices of other states, in stark contrast to other nations’ sentencing laws, and do not serve Michigan’s special sentencing goal of rehabilitation.
Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP)

Feazell v. Bean

Nevada District Courts •
We challenged the constitutionality of imposing life without parole on an 18-year-old. Our brief argued that Nevada's constitutional protections against cruel or unusual punishments is broader than the Eighth Amendment of the Federal Constitution.