This report highlights the status of laws affecting same-sex marriage in various states, as of 2003. Download Publication
This report reviews how juvenile court case outcomes in Pennsylvania counties are being measured and reported. Download Publication
This report discusses the coordination of efforts to combat child maltreatment and domestic violence, and a publication called Effective Intervention in Domestic Violence & Child Maltreatment Cases: Guidelines for Policy and Practice. It also describes…
This article briefly reviews various constitutional challenges to state laws that apply Megan’s Law to juveniles. It also notes the states that require juveniles to register as sex offenders; and states, statutes and case law…
This brief report, updated for 2003, provides a summary of family court concepts and issues and contains a map showing the states with a unified family court. Download Publication
This report, updated for 2003, highlights state variations in the application of the Megan’s Law community notification provisions to adjudicated juveniles. Download Publication
This brief report compares how various states handle the issue of jury trials in the termination of parental rights cases. Six states have statutes or case law that permit or require a jury trial in…
This article analyzes the split among U.S. appellate courts over-application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Apprendi decision (the fact of a prior conviction may increase a criminal penalty beyond the statutory maximum for that crime,…
This article excerpts and highlights both the Interested Adult Test and the Totality of the Circumstances Test, as applied to the Lee Boyd Malvo case. These two tests are the most common tests used to…
This brief report highlights state variations in initial detention hearing time limits. The idea that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ has spurred many states to hold detention hearings within 24 hours of a juvenile’s admission…
This brief report highlights state variations in how they meet federal mandates governing detention of juveniles with adults This is the second in a three-part series on this issue; this part discusses the time limits…
This article focuses on juvenile detention and its alternatives in Philadelphia. Largely as a result of a federal class-action lawsuit about overcrowding in the city’s only secure juvenile detention center, city leaders moved to reform…