At the Law Offices of Katie Walsh, we’d like to share our deepest condolences to the families of the 74,188 Americans who have succumbed to COVID-19. We will continue to keep all the infected in the United States – some 1,232,470 – in our thoughts and prayers. While some headway has been made in containing…
Continue reading ›Neuroscientists say that the brain doesn’t fully mature until age 25, which makes you wonder why teenagers are considered adults at the age of 18. What’s more, in some cases, teens under 18 years of age are prosecuted as adults in the criminal justice system. Researchers have long understood that adolescents are impulsive and reckless;…
Continue reading ›The California Assembly and Senate’s fiscal committees met to determine the fate of several criminal justice bills this month. At which time speedy mass-hearings commence, often without public knowledge, to decide the fate of legislation, according to Witness LA. This process allows lawmakers to support or kill bills without having to vote one way or…
Continue reading ›In 1974, Congress passed the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). Lawmakers wrote the bill to address some of the glaring inconsistencies in approaches to juvenile justice from one state to the next. Most Americans are unaware that there are more than 56 different juvenile justice systems in the U.S. Each of which is…
Continue reading ›Just over a year ago we covered a subject that is of particular importance to adolescents caught in the juvenile justice system and their families, Senate Bill 190 (SB-190). At the time, the piece of legislation which, if passed, would prohibit the collection of fees in the juvenile-justice system across the state, was before the…
Continue reading ›In certain states, the process of “automatic transfer” or “direct file” is a common occurrence in the juvenile court system. Automatic transfer mandates that minors over a certain age be charged as an adult, if their crimes are considered to be severe, typically for violent offenses. On the other hand, in 15 states prosecutors have…
Continue reading ›The United States Supreme Court continues to recognize the inherent differences between juvenile and adult criminal offenders, acknowledging that the former are less psychologically and socially developed—and thus less legally culpable—than the latter. At the end of last month, the Supreme Court issued a decision in the matter of Montgomery v. Louisiana, a case with…
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