Posts in 'Amicus Curiae'

We argued that a 91½-year sentence, requiring at least 45 years served prior to becoming parole eligible, for nonhomicide offenses committed by a juvenile is unconstitutional under Graham because it fails to provide a “meaningful opportunity” for release.

Juvenile Law Center and Center for Law, Brain and Behavior filed an amicus brief supporting Ahmad Bright’s petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. We argued that the opportunity for parole is not an adequate substitute for an individualized sentencing hearing as required by Miller and Montgomery. Furthermore, youth who are accomplices are essentially nonhomicide offenders and, under Graham v. Florida (2010), cannot be sentenced to life without parole sentences.

Juvenile Law Center, Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, Inc., and University of Virginia Professor of Law, Brandon L. Garrett filed an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on behalf of Brendan Dassey, the nephew of Steven Avery whose prosecution and conviction for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach were the central focus of the “Making A Murderer” 2016 Netflix documentary. On August 12, 2016, a federal magistrate judge granted Dassey’s petition, declaring his confession Involuntary under the “totality of circumstances” test and highlighted several aspects of Dassey’s interrogation resulting in his false confession: the investigators’ promises, assurances, and threats of negative consequences in light of Brendan’s age, his intellectual deficits, lack of experience with the police, the absence of a parent during the interrogation, and other relevant personal characteristics.

Juvenile Law Center filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Ohio on behalf of 12-year-old D.S. Juvenile Law Center argued that Ohio's gross sexual imposition statute – designed in part to protect children who are under age 13 from adult sexual predators – is unconstitutional when applied to children, particularly children who allegedly engage in sexual contact with a peer of similar age.

We argued that a suspicionless body cavity search of a 12-year-old girl detained for a minor offense is unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.

Juvenile Law Center, with National Juvenile Defender Center, filed an amicus brief in the Ohio Supreme Court on behalf of a 16-year-old child transferred to adult court under Ohio’s mandatory transfer scheme.

Juvenile Law Center, with Public Interest Law Center and other amici, filed an amicus brief in the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of a 15-year-old child sentenced to concurrent 45 years sentences for nonhomicide offenses.

Argued that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to give proper weight during transfer or sentencing to the age and related characteristics of a physically and sexually abused 15-year-old who participated in a murder with the adult who was abusing her.

Amici challenged a lower court’s holding limiting relief available via Pennsylvania’s summary offense expungement statute to only a narrow class of petitioners.

Argued that mandatory lifetime sex offender registration applied to children is punishment in violation of the U.S. and the Illinois constitutional bans on the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment and due process.