NCJ Number
138960
Date Published
1991
Length
346 pages
Annotation
This book details the complex problems encountered by juvenile court judges and discusses legal issues affecting children in the court setting.
Abstract
The constitutional rights of parents often overshadow the fundamental rights of children, and the nurturing of a child by having a stable home and a feeling of belonging should be the optimum in judicial decisions. Nonetheless, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1989 that children may be executed without violating the cruel and unusual mandate of the eighth amendment, and privacy rights of juveniles have been diminished by other court rulings. In the context of child advocacy and child welfare, legal issues affecting children concern permanency, juvenile rights in delinquency proceedings, confidentiality and the juvenile offender, diversion, and waiver of juvenile court jurisdiction (transferring juveniles to the adult criminal court). Other issues pertain to privacy rights of juveniles, medical treatment of children, due process rights of children, the first amendment and freedom of expression, the free exercise of religion versus the establishment clause, and the first amendment and freedom of religion and aid to nonpublic education. Endnotes and table of cases