Manslaughter case against texting teen in boyfriend’s suicide will proceed, judge says

The involuntary manslaughter case against a Massachusetts teenager accused of encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide will proceed, a judge has ruled. Juvenile Court Judge Bettina Borders, in an order Tuesday, said there is sufficient evidence for a grand jury to indict Michelle Carter, 18, in the death of her…

Sep 23, 2015 4:00 PM CDT

Teen invited to White House after arrest for bringing homemade clock to school

This week has clearly been a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows for a 14-year-old Texas high school student. Reportedly arrested, handcuffed and suspended from school (although not criminally charged) after bringing a homemade alarm clock to school in an effort to connect with others interested in technology, Ahmed Mohamed…

Sep 17, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

Mechanically inclined teen who brought homemade clock to school is arrested on bomb suspicions

Ahmed Mohamed loves to build radios and repairs his own go-kart. In middle school, the robotics club was one of his favorite activities, and he hoped to find a similar niche as a high school freshman. So when he started at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, the 14-year-old brought…

Sep 16, 2015 7:10 AM CDT

Maryland public defender investigating every juvenile life-without-parole case

Maryland’s Office of the Public Defender’s post-conviction division has launched an effort to investigate all cases of inmates who, as juveniles, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, following through on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2012 that such sentences violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition…

Sep 15, 2015 4:35 PM CDT

Couple in court for juvenile hearing accused of leaving girl, 9, barricaded at home in closet

Already in juvenile court for proceeding last week, the mother of a 9-year-old girl and her boyfriend are now facing a criminal case after authorities in Cherokee County, Georgia, learned the girl had been left alone at home, barricaded in a laundry closet. Alerted by a Division of Family and…

Sep 15, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

Federal judge who gave up his blog is posting again, offering his thoughts on sentence reform

Two months ago, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said he was giving up his pull-no-punches blog, Hercules and the Umpire. But that apparently doesn’t mean that he has given up blogging entirely. In a Wednesday post at Fault Lines, the judge offers his thoughts on federal sentencing reform. “My personal…

Sep 10, 2015 12:19 PM CDT

Reauthorization bill seeks to update a key juvenile justice law after more than 10 years

A bipartisan effort is underway in Congress to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, a 1974 law that provides crucial support for programs aimed at preventing juvenile delinquency. In the view of the ABA, it's time for an update, which hasn't occurred in more than a decade.

Sep 1, 2015 7:00 AM CDT

Those convicted as juveniles who are serving life without parole hope the court will go back in time

It's been three years since the U.S. Supreme Court declared that mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles convicted of murder were cruel and unusual punishment. Yet states remain divided over whether prisoners currently serving those sentences—many of them well into adulthood—should get a second chance.

Sep 1, 2015 4:50 AM CDT

Dad who let 15-year-old drive gets prison time after fatal accident

A Scarsdale, New York, dad who let his unlicensed teenage daughter drive his sports utility vehicle during a vacation in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania last year has been sentenced to prison time for the fatal accident that resulted. Michael Ware, 54, was given 6½ to 16 years in prison…

Aug 20, 2015 2:35 PM CDT

Why girls charged in Slender Man stabbing at age 12 will be tried as adults

Two girls accused of stabbing a friend at age 12 to please the fictional Slender Man character will be tried as adults after a judge upheld a Wisconsin law governing the issue. Judge Michael Bohren of Waukesha County ruled on Monday that the adult court would protect the public longer…

Aug 11, 2015 7:16 AM CDT

Commissioners speak on the future of justice on American Indian land

For Tom Gede, a member of the Indian Law & Order Commission, the most emotional part of the entity’s work took place in Alaska. That was where the commission, a body appointed by Congress in 2010 to study how justice can be improved on Native American lands, heard from a…

Jul 30, 2015 6:56 PM CDT

Ban life-without-parole sentences for juveniles retroactively, ABA urges SCOTUS

A landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2012 should be applied retroactively to eliminate mandatory life-without-parole sentences imposed on juveniles before Miller v. Alabama was decided, the American Bar Association argues in an amicus brief (PDF) filed Wednesday. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama that a mandatory…

Jul 29, 2015 4:53 PM CDT

Judge orders ‘brainwashed’ kids to live in juvenile facility for refusing to interact with their dad

A Michigan lawyer has filed a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of three children placed in a juvenile facility by a judge who claimed they had been brainwashed in a case that rivaled the worst example of parental alienation she had ever seen. Judge Lisa Gorcyca of Oakland County,…

Jul 9, 2015 9:04 AM CDT

ABA House takes on domestic violence, executions at Midyear Meeting

Apr 1, 2015 2:00 AM CDT

Citing landmark ‘Gault’ case, DOJ files framework for deciding if juveniles have adequate counsel

The U.S. Department of Justice has weighed in on behalf of a civil rights group in an ongoing Georgia case over a claimed lack of representation for juvenile defendants in the four-county Cordele Judicial Circuit. Filed in January 2014 by the Southern Center for Human Rights, the Superior Court of…

Mar 17, 2015 2:35 PM CDT