Examining the Type of Legal Representation and Its Influence on Disaggregated Dispositions in Juvenile Court

While prior studies of juvenile court outcomes have examined the impact of legal representation on out-of-home placement versus community sanctions, previous research has not fully explored the variation within sanctions that youth receive. The current study examines the influence of type of legal representation (public defender or private attorney) when predicting juvenile adjudications and dispositions. Using a sample of delinquent referrals from a Northeast state between 2009 and 2014, results showed that youth do receive different outcomes (e.g., probation, drug and alcohol treatment, accountability-oriented dispositions, etc.) based on the type of legal representation. The findings have important implications for juvenile court processing related to how courtroom actors impact case outcomes.

The Gendered Path for Girls in Rural Communities: The Impact of COVID-19 on Youth Presenting at Juvenile Detention Facilities

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, girls and women represented one of the fastest growing populations within the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Since the spread of COVID-19, suggestions were provided to juvenile justice bodies, encouraging a reduction of youth arrests, detainments, and quicker court processing. Yet, the research comparing peri-COVID-19 changes for girls and boys is lacking, with an oversight to gender trends and rural and urban differences. This study used Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center (JIAC) data from a rural Midwestern state to look at rural and urban location trends for both boys and girls. Results suggest rural communities are responding differently to girls’ behaviors, revealing a slower decline in intakes compared to boys and youth in urban areas.

Assessing Variations in Juvenile Court Processing in Urban Versus Rural Courts: Revisiting “Justice by Geography”

Drawing on Feld’s (1991) “justice by geography” thesis, we examined whether juvenile court outcomes and case-level influences on those outcomes varied across urban and rural courts. Using a sample of 60,068 juvenile referrals across 66 counties in one state, we estimated direct effects of urbanism on detention, petition, adjudication, and judicial placement, as well as cross-level interactions between urbanism and several case-level factors for each outcome. We found limited support for the hypotheses. First, findings indicated that odds of detention were significantly greater in more urban courts, but indicated no differences in other outcomes. Second, findings also indicated greater extralegal differences (race, sex, and age) in more urban courts—contrary to hypotheses. Taken together, findings highlight the localized yet complex nature of juvenile justice processing and emphasize the need for additional multilevel research assessing the role of other contextual factors as potential sources of variation across macrosocial units.

An overview of sexual assault cases in Bangladesh

Sexual assault is defined as any sexual act performed by one (or more) person(s) on another without consent. It may include the use of threat or force. In some cases, the person cannot give consent to sex because he/she is unconscious or otherwise incapacitated. A person may be raped by a stranger, an acquaintance or date or a family member. The purpose of the present study was to find out the medicolegal findings of rape victims in order to point out the visible loopholes of the procedure. This was a cross sectional descriptive type of study which was done in the Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, Dhaka , Bangladesh from January to December 2015 with maintaining ethical issues. Rape cases were sent for medicolegal examination and victims who ultimately agreed to do medicolegal examinations were examined and opinions were given regarding the issues. In this study, majority (70.0%) of the victims was within 11 to 20 years of age and 65.0% of the victims were unmarried. Almost 68.0% of the victims were examined within 7 days followed by 32.0% of the victims after 7 days to beyond one month after rape; however, 48.0% of the victims showed sign of recent hymeneal tear with bruise and abrasion followed by 52.0% showed sign of old hymeneal tear. Spermatozoa were not found in any of the specimen of high vaginal swab. Young adults remain the most vulnerable group, so education related to sex, morality, humanity and different life skills training should be provided to these groups from their school years itself. The benefits of early intervention and comprehensive care of survivors with the use of standardized protocols along with shorter and lesser traumatic period of court processing to the survivors of these cases should be encouraged.

Human Rights Approach in Environment Law Enforcement based on Law Number 23/2009

Individual has the same rights to have prosperity life including the right to have healthy life. In this research, the objective of the study is to discuss about the enforcement of environmental law based on Law Number 32 of 2009 about Environmental Protection and Management based on a human rights. Using The results found that the administrative punishment is a quick way and appropriate to stop the violation in environment. It is due to the punishment is given without going through court processing. Administrative punishment is referred to the violation not to the person. In addition, imposition of administrative punishment is not aimed to punish the violator, but it is more concern to the recovery the situation (reparatoir).

Understanding the Subgroup Complexities of Transfer: The Impact of Juvenile Race and Gender on Waiver Decisions

While prior research has consistently found the presence of extralegal disparities in juvenile justice decision-making, less research has investigated the combined effects of a juvenile’s race and gender on the decision to transfer youth to adult court. The current study examines both the individual and joint influence of race and gender on transfer decisions of all judicial waiver-eligible youth in a Northeast state from 2004 to 2014. Results indicate that Black males had the highest likelihood of being judicially waived, followed by White males, then Black females. White females had the greatest chance of being retained in juvenile court. The findings have important implications for juvenile court processing by informing researchers, practitioners, and policyholders about potential reform efforts that target judicial waiver.

Retrospective Review of Information Technologies in the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan

It is currently impossible to imagine the improvement of some sphere without modern technologies. The president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Presidential Message to the people underlines the need in the wide introduction of the elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The objective of the paper is to analyze the retrospective review of the information technologies in the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan. As the method studying the research subject, we use the analysis of the criminal procedure legislation, digital programs, as well as the opinion of the scientists and specialists regarding the possibility of the introduction and use of the information technologies in the activities of the judicial authorities. A series of scientists prefer new progressive technologies in the criminal court processing, including the electronic criminal case. Besides, the programs dedicated to the development of the court system in Kazakhstan contain a series of prerequisites forcing the court reform to introduce the electronic base of the criminal case.

Gender Equality and Sentencing Outcomes: An Examination of State Courts

The current study examined whether measures of structural gender equality conditioned the effects of defendant gender on incarceration decisions. Using data from the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) database, multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between both case- and county-level variables on incarceration decisions on a sample of defendants sentenced in state courts. Results indicated that women were less likely to be sentenced to prison than men, but there was no gender difference for jail and noncustodial sentences; however, the structural gender equality measures exerted only slight influences over sentencing outcomes.