Category Archives: Court Proceedings

Hopes for the New Year 2015

Posted on January 5, 2015 by

As the new year begins, here are the hopes for 2015: That anti-shackling legislation continues to spread around the country, including here in Indiana, which would allow detained children to appear without shackles during court hearings unless the judge has … Continue reading →

Posted in Adolescent Development, Anti-Shackling, CHINS, Court Proceedings, Crossover Youth, DCS, Detention, Status Offenders | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reliability of Assault Victim’s Accounts

Posted on December 17, 2014 by

The Reliability of Assault Victims’ Immediate Accounts: Evidence from Trauma Studies by Melissa Hamilton (Stanford Law & Policy Review, forthcoming) discusses the excited utterance, present sense exception, and statements about mental and medical conditions exceptions to the hearsay rule when the … Continue reading →

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Parents Helping Parents in the System

Posted on November 20, 2014 by

So often, once a child is put into the juvenile system — whether as a CHINS or a juvenile delinquent — the parents are swept to the side as others make decisions about what is best for the child and … Continue reading →

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NACDL Report on Discovery Violations

Posted on November 19, 2014 by

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) released a report based on a study of discovery violations, “Material Indifference: How Courts are Impeding Fair Disclosure in Criminal Cases,” which was “produced jointly with the VERITAS Initiative at Santa Clara … Continue reading →

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Revised Criminal Rule 25 — Early Appointment of Counsel

Posted on November 6, 2014 by

On October 30, 2014, the Indiana Supreme Court issued an order amending Indiana Criminal Rule 25, which will go into effect on January 1, 2015.  The original version of the rule was issued on December 18, 2013. One amendment is … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Proceedings, Right to Counsel | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Procedural Justice — Building a Better Experience in Court

Posted on October 29, 2014 by

Rather than focusing only on the outcome of a juvenile delinquency case, what if the focus was also on the perceived fairness of the process?  The theory of procedural fairness or procedural justice relies on the premise that a person … Continue reading →

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Closing Arguments in Juvenile Fact-finding Hearings

Posted on October 14, 2014 by

A juvenile fact-finding hearing (trial) is a bench trial that in Indiana is subject to virtually all of the procedural rights and rules of any other type of bench trial, including a criminal trial.  However, because of the long history of … Continue reading →

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