The Washington Supreme Court ruled the trial court was required to consider an accused person’s race and ethnicity in the totality of the circumstances when determining whether a person was “seized” in Washington state constitution’s prohibition against unlawful seizure. The court offered the following language in support: As noted above, the article I, section 7…
The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division reversed the guilty plea and conviction of Mr. Thorne after the court denied his motion to suppress, finding that the arresting officers lacked requisite reasonable suspicion to stop him. The Court, citing several inconsistencies in the radio description of the assailant compared to Mr. Thorne, offered the following language in support: “The officers did not have reasonable…
From the memorandum opinion: “Gary Montgomery, a mentally disabled man, was arrested in 2012 and charged with the murder of Deoni Jones. After five and a half years of incarceration pending trial, a jury found Montgomery not guilty. Montgomery’s amended complaint alleges that defendant District of Columbia violated his rights under Title II of the…
This resource was created as part of the 2022 Racial Justice Training Series, co-hosted with the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative. Advocates and experts gathered each month to discuss a chapter of Prof. Kristin Henning’s Book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth. Watch recordings of the monthly webinars and see other…
From the introduction: “Preventing, reducing, and improving interactions between autistic individuals and the criminal justice system are urgent research and policy priorities. Research should guide evidence-based programs and policies that limit unnecessary interactions between autistic individuals and the criminal justice system and address documented high rates of victimization among autistic individuals. A diverse team of…
This resource was created as part of the 2022 Racial Justice Training Series, co-hosted with the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative. Advocates and experts gathered each month to discuss a chapter of Prof. Kristin Henning’s Book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth. Watch recordings of the monthly webinars and see other…
From the introduction: “This Essay centers disability as a lens for analysis in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. This Essay discusses the ways in which disability mediates interactions with law enforcement and how Fourth Amendment doctrine renders disabled people vulnerable to police intrusions and police violence. More specifically, this Essay critiques the Terry doctrine, consensual encounters, consent…
From the introduction: “One of our goals in producing this report is to inform school administrators, board members, and parent and student stakeholders, giving details about which groups of students are disproportionately arrested and about the gaps that exist in data reporting. We also want to provide guidance on how to address these issues. We…
This resource was created as part of the 2022 Racial Justice Training Series, co-hosted with the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative. Advocates and experts gathered each month to discuss a chapter of Prof. Kristin Henning’s Book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth. Watch recordings of the monthly webinars and see other…
This brief by the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid, Bronx Defenders, and Brooklyn Defenders was filed in support of petitioners in the Bruen case. The brief points to the racialized history of denying Black and Latine people lawful licenses to carry guns and outlines racial disparities in gun possession cases. Amici submit this brief “because we…
The landmark case Miranda v. Arizona (1966), the United States Supreme Court required law enforcement agencies to advise all suspects of their “Miranda warnings,” or Constitutional protections, prior to interrogation. Previous research demonstrates that the Miranda warnings in the United States are largely unregulated and highlights how inadequate translations can impact comprehensibility. The present study…
From the abstract: “The term wrongful conviction typically refers to the conviction or adjudication of individuals who are factually innocent. Decades of research has rightfully focused on uncovering contributing factors of convictions of factually innocent people to inform policy and practice. However, in this paper we expand our conceptualization of wrongful conviction. Specifically, we propose…
This article from Education Week examines the implications of the Pasco County sheriff’s office in Florida using school data and records from the Department of Children and Families to create a list of students that were “at-risk for a life of crime.” Data privacy experts shared with the media that the actions of the Sheriff’s…
This resource is part of the Youth Defender Advocacy Program (YDAP) curriculum, a specialized trial advocacy training program for youth defenders.
From the introduction: “Communities across the country have come together to demand meaningful changes to law enforcement practices in the wake of the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks at the hands of the police. The focus has rightly been on how deadly police actions have had an outsized impact on…
From the abstract: “Today’s left social movements are challenging formal law and politics for their capitulation to a regime of racial capitalism. In this Feature, I argue that we must reconceive our relationship to reform and the popular struggles in which they are embedded. I examine the turn of left social movements to “non-reformist reforms”…
From the introduction: “Black girls and other girls of color are often subjectively punished and criminalized for their communication styles, their expressions, and the trauma they have experienced. It is imperative as policy leaders to advocate for the necessary resources, laws, policies and practices that work to create supportive learning environments, where all students have…
This is a sample motion from Maryland asking the court to exclude tangible evidence recovered during a stop and arrest based on lack of probable cause for the search. The motion includes arguments about implicit racial bias, structural racism, procedural justice, racial justice, and adolescent brain development.
From the abstract: “As the largest minority group in the United States, Latinas/ os have experienced a long history of discrimination, prejudice, and stigmatization as gang members. A contemporary survey of law enforcement agencies reported that Latinos continue to be the largest proportion of any racial or ethnic group involved in gangs. To describe such…
The D.C. Court of Appeals reversed Mr. Miles’s convictions after concluding the police lacked reasonable suspicion to subject him to a Terry stop. Distinguishing the case from Wardlow v. Illinois, the Court found the anonymous tip and the circumstances around Mr. Miles’ flight from the police were not indicative of criminal activity and offered the following language in support: “While Wardlow is not directly controlling here, the case…
