Posts in 'Amicus Curiae'

Supreme Court held the execution of juveniles unconstitutional. Juvenile Law Center’s brief argued the developmental differences between adolescents and adults in critical areas, including impulse control and understanding consequences.

Addressed the issues of due process violations in Illinois’ blended sentencing schemes and the interpretation of a youth’s request for counsel.

Argued in support of a 14-year-old who sought to suppress her confession because police failed to advise her that she would be prosecuted as an adult.

Juvenile Law Center’s brief addressed whether statements made in response to law-enforcement questioning while youth was in court-ordered treatment were involuntary.

Argued that the PA Juvenile Act authorizes child welfare courts to retain jurisdiction over foster children aged 18 to 21 and to order agencies to continue to serve those youth in a course of treatment or instruction.

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.

Briefed the issue of right to counsel for juveniles and the procedures that must be brought to bear before waiver is granted.

Argued against Colorado’s “direct file” statute on the grounds that it violates equal protection guarantees, contravenes separation of powers principles, and denies a defendant due process where statute allows sentencing as an adult following conviction for a crime that would not have made him eligible for adult prosecution.

Juvenile Law Center briefed the issue of a juvenile’s consent to a search of his home and voluntary waiver of his Miranda rights.

Briefed the issue of a juvenile’s right to have his name removed from a statewide central register as a perpetrator of child abuse.