Posts in 'Amicus Curiae'

Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP)
Tennessee Supreme Court •
We argued that Tyshon's sentence is a de facto life sentence that provides no meaningful opportunity for release in violation of Miller's requirement that youth and its attendant characteristics be considered before imposing such a sentence.
Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP)
U.S. Supreme Court •
We argued that the Eighth Amendment requires the sentencer to determine that a juvenile offender is permanently incorrigible before imposing a sentence of life without parole in order to give effect to the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Miller and Montgomery and to ensure that juvenile life without parole sentences are truly rare. We further argued that requiring a finding of permanent incorrigibility helps root out racial bias in sentencing and ensures meaningful appellate review.
Youth Tried as Adults
Pennsylvania Supreme Court •
In an important win the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that “a minor’s refusal to confess to an act for which he or she might be criminally prosecuted as an adult may not be considered when deciding whether to certify a case for transfer between juvenile and adult court.”
Sex Offender Registration of Children (SORNA)
Ohio Supreme Court •
Amici argued that, in order to comply with fundamental fairness and a youth's due process rights, a juvenile sex offender registrant's classification cannot extend beyond the child's disposition when the juvenile court fails to conduct a juvenile registrant's end-of-disposition hearing at the time the juvenile completes treatment. Our brief further articulated that registering children into adulthood harms system-involved youth and does not increase public safety.
Keeping Kids in the Community
Pennsylvania Supreme Court •
We argued that the proposed judicial expansion of the Child Protective Services Law to permit unreasonable searches of parents through compulsory urine drug screens during civil child welfare investigations violates both the Fourth Amendment and the Pennsylvania Constitution. We further argued that such an expansion would have a disparate impact on poorer people and people of color.
Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit •
Our brief argued that the imposition of a mandatory life sentence on an 18-year-old violates the Eighth Amendment because young adults possess the same relevant characteristics as youth under 18 and courts post-Miller have consistently found older adolescents and young adults less deserving of the harshest penalties.
Youth Interrogations & Access to Counsel
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit •
Amici emphasized the injustice of establishing that the only recourse for youth is through the ballot box and the political process from which they are excluded.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit •
Amici argued that students need access to federal courts to vindicate their constitutional rights because appeals to the school board do not afford the same protections as federal litigation and federal courts must have power to review unconstitutionally vague school disciplinary provisions that violate students' rights to freedom of expression, due press, and equal protection.
Sex Offender Registration of Children (SORNA)
Washington Supreme Court •
Our brief argued that Houston-Sconiers, which held that sentencing court’s have authority to depart below the standard sentencing range when sentencing youthful offenders, established a substantive change in the law requiring retroactive application and further that a national consensus has emerged against applying mandatory sentencing schemes to youth. We further argued that the continued imposition of mandatory adult sentences on youth relies on an unconstitutional non-rebuttable presumption that a youth is as morally culpable as an adult.
Youth Tried as Adults
Washington Supreme Court •
We argued that under both the Federal and Washington Constitutions there is a presumption that age is a mitigating factor in sentencing when children are tried as adults and that the burden of proof should be on the prosecution to disprove the mitigating effect of age.