CJL 4050 Juvenile Law, Sections 0483 and 049D, Fall 2014 ( in Canvas)
CF fees apply to section049D by state law.
Instructors: Lonn Lanza-Kaduce ()
Office Hours: To be announced
Required Material: The text is: Seigel, Larry and Paul E. Tracy (2008), Juvenile Law. A Collection of Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. The text will be supplemented by cases and material that you can retrieve from the class website (or it will be sent via class email list)and by video lectures.
Course Goals: 1. To introduce students to several areas of juvenile law (especially law affecting juveniles in the educational system and law regarding the juvenile courts and juvenile justice procedure). 2. To relate the law to policies. 3. To sharpen critical analysis by exposing students to case analysis. 4. To provide experience with analyzing and briefing legal cases and applying law to fact patterns.
Assignments, Testing, and Grading:The course is organized around 6 modules.
Unit Quizzes. There will be 3timed multiple choice/true false quizzes, each covering 2 of the 6 modules.There will be a series of videos for each module to help you with the quizzes. Each quiz will be worth approximately 40 points. Different forms of each quiz will be offered only at designated times. You must choose one of the windows to open and complete. Your score will be the one you earn on the form you open first. The quizzes will NOT be cumulative but each module will build on previous material. The quizzes are for assessment purposes; “cushion” points will be built into them because we will not be able to have class reviews of the exams and publishing the answers would expand the opportunity to cheat.
Quiz 1 (over Modules 1 and 2) will be offered the evening of Sept. 25 (opening at 8:00 p.m.) or the morning of Sept. 28 (opening at 8:00 a.m.).
Quiz 2 (over Modules 3 and 4) will be offered the evening of Nov. 6 (opening at 8:00 p.m.) or the morning of Nov. 9 (opening at 8:00 a.m.).
Quiz 3 (over Modules 4 and 5) will be offered the morning of Dec. 14 (opening at 8:00 a.m.) or the evening of Dec. 18 (opening at 8:00 p.m.).
You will have 60 minutes to complete each quiz (so long as you start it on time). The site itself will remain open an extra 15 minutes in case someone is a little late starting the quiz.
Briefs.There will two graded briefs, both using a stylized format. One will take the form of a short paper take-home assignment (worth 10 points) that you will have time to prepare and consider. It will be due Sept. 11. The other will be a timed brief (worth 25 points) with different cases offered only at designated times. You must choose one of the windows to open the case and brief it. (We cannot allow the windows to remain open for longer periods or the case will be leaked to others, giving them an unfair advantage.) One case will open on the evening of Sept. 18; the other on the morning of Sept. 21. You must complete the case you open first.
Law Applications to Fact Patterns. Applying law to fact situations is key to legal analysis. There will be a timed law-school type hypothetical essay exam worth 25 points dealing with cases from the third unit (modules 5 and 6). Different forms of the fact pattern will be offered only at designated times. You must choose one of the windows to open the hypothetical fact pattern and write an essay applying law to it. The first will open on the evening of Dec. 4; the second on the morning of Dec. 7. You must complete the hypothetical you open first.
Discussion Postings. There will be two discussion postings. One is an introductory “get-to-know-your-class” posting (with responses to two others) worth 5 points. The original posts will need to be made by Sept. 4. The other will be a topicdiscussion posting on parental responsibility laws (with responses to 2 other class members’ postings). It will be worth 10 points. The original post will be due by Oct. 9; the responses will be due by Oct. 16.
Syllabus Quiz. There will be a syllabus quiz (worth 5 points) that you must take to start the course (and before you can proceed through the course). We’ve placed a Sept. 4 deadline on it, but since your first discussion postings are due by Sept 4 you will want to do this earlier.
Make-ups. Make-up quizzes or assignments will be allowed only if sufficient reason is documented. Please notify us about conflicts as soon as you can.
Grading Scale: The grading scale is: 90%+ of points A, 87-89% B+, 80-86 B, 77-79% C+, 70-76% C, 67-69% D+, 60-66% D, < 60% F. Because of the “cushion points,” calculate your own percentages; those generated in Canvas may be too low.
Student Rights and Responsibilities: Please inform yourself about your rights and responsibilities, including academic honesty guidelines, formal and informal procedures for hearing academic dishonesty cases, the grievance procedure, and confidentiality of student records. See generally: See also: According to university rules, on all work submitted for credit by students at the university, the following pledge is either required or implied: "On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment." Online instruction has to structure graded work differently and we have to be careful about academic dishonesty—one cheating scandal and everyone loses. Some graded activities are timed and you must do the work during limited windows when the timed exercises are open, so LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE AND COMPARE IT WITH YOURS. IF YOU CANNNOT DO THE WORK DURING ONE OF THOSE SCHEDULED WINDOWS, CONSIDER DROPPING THE CLASS. (A scheduled cruise with your family is not sufficient grounds for missing a timed graded exercise.) We know you can retrieve information; this course is about analyzing information that is available from class materials. Therefore, we will structure assignments in ways to encourage analysis rather than retrieval. Hence, the stylized forms for some graded exercises.
Student records are confidential. Only information designated “UF directory information” (see University Regulation 6C1-4.007) may be released without your written consent. UF views each student as the primary contact for all communication. If parents (or others) contact us about grades or any information that is not “UF directory information,” we will ask them to contact you. Students requesting classroom accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation. Please have those accommodation requests in before the third week of class so there is time to adjust. The Dean of Students Office is located in 202 Peabody Hall.
Communications: Messages are not completed communications until they are received. If you leave an important message, follow it up to make sure it has been received. Email is a better way to touch base with me than is the phone. To be sure emails get through the filters and that they are given priority, USE YOUR UF EMAIL AND THE MAIL FUNCTION IN CANVAS; it will keep class-related exchanges organized and in one place.
Tentative Outline and Schedule (with Reading Assignments)
MODULE 1. JUVENILE LAW AS PART OF A LEGAL SYSTEM (Aug. 25-Sept. 12)
- Intro to Components of Legal Systems. (posting)
- Judicial Overlay and the Constitution.
- Judicial Review and Marbury v. Madison (case and basics of briefing postings)
- The 14th Amendment and Due Process (also a 5th amendment due process clause)
- Fundamental Fairness Approach
- The Scotsboro Boys case: youtube Emory U video ( and Powell v. Alabama 1932 posting
- Haley v. Ohio 332 U.S. 596 (1948)
- Juveniles & mental health (Parham v. J.R. 1979 posting)
- Selective Incorporation Approach
- Bill of Rights (locate and read first 10 amendments)
- An example: Breed v. Jones 1975 pp. 76-86 text.
- Due Process and Child Custody (Santosky v. Kramer posting)
- The 14th Amendment and Equal Protection
- An overview of equal protection
- Age-related distinctions and juvenile law
- capacity and contracting
- drinking age and equal protection (Craig v. Boren posting)
- other age-related distinctions
- Applications to family issues
- The role of equal protection in overturning curfews D.C. v. Hutchins 1999 posting
- equal protection applied to child custody—take-home brief assignment
- Other classifications and interests
IV. Civil Procedure, Causes of Action, Remedies and Appeals
- Civil Procedure
- Appeals
- Civil Rights Actions (Kaci posting)
- Bivens actions (see Bivens posting)
- Habeas Corpus
MODULE 2: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND JUVENILES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM (Sept. 15 – Sept. 26)
- Due Process and Equal Protection Issues
- Equal Protection
- Racial discrimination(Brown v. Board of Education 1954—posting
- funding inequality (San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez 1973—posting)
- Due Process (ch. 10 of text)
- Disciplinary proceedings (Goss v. Lopez 1975)
- Corporal punishment (Ingraham v. Wright 1977)
- First Amendment Issues
- Religious Rights (ch. 6 in text)
- Engel v. Vitale 1962
- Abington School District v. Schempp 1963
- Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe 2000
- extended to juvenile corrections
- Free Speech Issues (ch. 9 of text)
- Intro
- Tinker v. Des Moines School District 1969
- Hazlewood School District v. Kuhlmeier 1988
- Fourth Amendment Issues (ch. 11 of text)
- Traditional search and seizure approaches—Mincy v. Arizona (part I)—posting
- The “special needs” approach
- NJ v. T.L.O. 1985—text
- contrast with Ferguson v. City of Charleston 2001--posting
- Drug testing (ch. 12 of text)
- Vernonia v. Action 1995
- Board of Education of Independent School District of Pottawatomie v. Earls 2002
MODULE 3: THE SEPARATE JUVENILE COURT (Sept. 39 – Oct. 10)
- The Juvenile Court—A Separate Justice System
- An Introduction— Gardner & Lanza-Kaduce “Putting the Processing of Juvenile Offenders into Context”—posting
- Conflicting Philosophies and Strategies
- Treatment orientations—utilitarian approaches based on changing kids
- Crime Control—utilitarian approaches through punishment
- Justice as Just Deserts—a punishment retribution model
- Restorative Justice
- Tensions in Juvenile Justice
- Due Process vs. Crime Control and legal procedures
- Punishment and/or treatment and challenges about the amenability to treatment
- Jurisdictional Issues
- Age issues—infancy as a defense: In re William A. (1988)—posting
- The tension over philosophy—In Re Michael D. (1987)—posting
- Subject matter issues
- delinquent acts—pushing civil jurisdiction and parens patriae to the max: In re Edwin R. (1971)—posting
- status offenses and CHINS and PINS
(i)the problem of void for vagueness: D.C. v. BJR (1975)—posting
(ii)are PINS/CHINS a different class?: Martarella v. Kelly (1972)--posting
- The Statutory Underpinnings
- The earliest enactment: Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899—text ch. 1
- A modern juvenile justice act: excerpts from Washington’s Juvenile Justice Act, 1994 (pp. 16-20 in Weiss et al.)—posting
- The federal overlay: Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (posting)
- status offenders
- use of adult incarceration facilities
- prosecuting juveniles as adults
- juvenile traffic offenders
- procedures at jail intake
- The judicial in jail removal Role
- the constitutional concern raised in White v Reid 1954
- an exercise in legal reasoning—using section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act to advance the jail removal initiative of the JJDP act: Hendrickson v. Griggs 1987—posting
- Parental Responsibility Law (Brank et al. posting)
MODULE 4: THE DUE PROCESS REVOLUTION (Oct. 13 – Nov. 7)
- The opening volley—waiver or transfer of juveniles to adult court
A Kent v. U.S. 1966 (pp. 9-24 in text)
B Development on the law of transfer
C Social Science Findings
- In re Gault—the major battle (pp. 24-54 of text)
- Extending and Limiting the Due Process Revolution—chs. 3 and 4 of text
A In Re Winship (1970) and the standard of proof
B Mckeiver v. PA (1971) and trial by jury
C review Breed v. Jones (1975) and double jeopardy
IV Self incrimination issues and 5th Amendment Miranda and 6th amendment counsel issues
1. The context—WBUR report on the NgaTruong case (
2.The adult context—posted cases
a. Coerced Confessions and the waiver of rights Boykin v. Alabama 1967—posting
b. Miranda v. Arizona 1966 (the prophylactic to protect the 5th amendment) and Mincey v. Arizona’s voluntariness standard even if Mirandized--postings
c. Confessions obtained in violation of 6th amendment right to counsel Massiah v. U.S. 1964—posting
d. Defining Interrogation: Brewer v. Williams 1977 vs. Rhode Island v. Innis 1980—postings
3.Applying Miranda to juveniles—ch. 5 text
a.Fare v. Michael C. 1979
b.California v. Prysock 1981
c.Yarborough, Warden v. Alvarado 2004
d. JDB v. NC. 2012—posting
4. Returning to the 4th amendment and juveniles
a. a review of 4th amendment law—from education cases
b.State v. Lowry and search--posting
c.Consider In Re D.J and investigatory stop—posting
d. California v. Hodari and arrest—posting
MODULE 5: PRETRIAL JUVENILE COURT PROCEDURES (Nov. 10 – Nov. 21)
- Pretrial Detention and Preventive Rationales
A. Schall v. Martin 1984 (ch. 6 text)
B. Influence on adult procedures: U.S. v. Salerno 1987—posting
- Other Pretrial Issues
A. Fundamental fairness and suggestive identification procedures (Manson v. Braithwaite—posting
1. Pre-indictment (Neil v. Biggers 1972—posting) and post-indictment (U.S. v. Wade—posting)
2. Application to juveniles (In re Holley 1970—posting)
- A review of other pretrial issues that apply to juveniles
A.Critical trial stages when right to counsel attaches: Rothgery v. Gillespie Co. 2008—posting
1. review of probable cause (Gerstein v. Pugh 1975—posting)
2. plea bargaining (Santobello v. NY 1971—posting)
3. prosecutorial obligation to “do justice” (Kyles v. Whitely 1995—posting)
MODULE 6: TRIAL AND SENTENCING ISSUES (Nov. 24 – Dec. 10)
- Trial Issues
A Confrontation issues
1 Coy v. Iowa and Maryland v. Craig 1990—postings
2 Crawford v. Washington 2004—posting
B right to present a defense? Crane v. Kentucky 1986--posting
- Sentencing
A. generally
B. Principle of the offense and graduated sanctions—Johnson et al posting
C. Capital punishment
1. the adult context
2. applied to juveniles—ch. 7 of text
a. Thompson v Oklahoma
b. Stanford v Kentucky
c. Roper v. Simmons
3. Extended to life without parole for juveniles—video link:
a. Graham v. Florida 560 U.S. 48 (2010)—posting
b. Miller v. Alabama 132 S. Ct 2455 (2012)—posting