Self-Defense – The Gault Center

Lived Experience Office Hours (Juvenile Justice Advocates of California)

Categories: Defending Against Hypervigilance, Practice Guide, Resource Library, Summit Materials

Sample Motion for Court Order Allowing Defense Counsel Access to Youth Facility for Evidence Collection

Categories: Colorado, Motion, Private, Resource Library

A sample motion requesting the court to compel Colorado’s Department of Youth Services to comply with a subpoena duces tecum regarding records related to excessive force and physical abuse in their facilities.

Sample Jury Instruction on Adolescent Brain Development and Impulsivity in a Self-Defense Case

Categories: Colorado, Jury Instructions, Private, Resource Library

Sample jury instructions on adolescent development in a self-defense case involving staff at a youth facility.

Sample Jury Instruction on Self-Defense for Children Under Colorado Law

Categories: Colorado, Jury Instructions, Private, Resource Library

Sample jury instructions for a child acting in lawful self-defense under Colorado law.

Sample Jury Instruction on the Reasonable Child Standard in a Self-Defense Against Facility Staff Case

Categories: Colorado, Jury Instructions, Private, Resource Library

Sample jury instructions requesting the reasonable child standard in a case involving self-defense from unlawful physical force at a youth facility.

Sample Jury Instruction In A Self-Defense Against Facility Staff Case

Categories: Colorado, Jury Instructions, Private, Resource Library

Sample jury instructions for self-defense in a case involving a young person defending themself against facility staff’s unlawful use of force or physical restraint against a youth at a residential facility.

Sample Jury Instruction on Unlawful Use of Physical Force by Facility Staff

Categories: Colorado, Jury Instructions, Private, Resource Library

Sample jury instructions outlining when physical force is by facility staff is unlawful against a young person.

Black Attorneys of Legal Aid, the Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, et al. Amici Brief, New York Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen

Categories: Amicus brief, Resource Library

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…

Bound & Broken: How DYC’s Culture of Violence is Hurting Kids and What to Do About It

Categories: Colorado, Report, Resource Library

This policy report features interviews of young people who have been incarcerated in youth facilities in Colorado and details the harmful conditions and culture in these programs. From the Executive Summary: “Despite a mission of rehabilitation rather than punishment, the culture of the Colorado Division of Youth Corrections (DYC) is plagued by punitive practices that…