by Jacob Barrett
Tennessee’s Rutherford County hasbeenunderscrutinyafteritwaswidelycriticizedforitsdysfunctional juvenilejusticesystem.TheCountyhasbeenincarceratingBlackchildrenatadisproportionatelyhighrate, accordingtodataobtainedbyProPublicaandNashvillePublicRadio(“NPR”).Themostrecentdatarevealthat theCounty’sincarcerationofBlackyouthisanextremedeparturefromnationaltrendsandtheCounty’sracial disparityisgettingworse,notbetter.
ProPublica and NPR documented how Rutherford County charged 11 Black children for a crime that did not exist. Four of the children were confined in the County’s juvenile jail.
Followingthepublicationofthestorybythetwonewsorganizations,theyreceivedadditionalreportsfromthe TennesseeCommissiononChildrenandYouththatexposedwhiletheCountywaslockingupsomanykids illegally,itwasalsoincarceratingadisproportionately highpercentageofBlackchildren.
RutherfordCountybooked childrenintoitsjuvenilejailatleast6,350timesbetweenJuly2010andJune2021, accordingtotheyouthcommissionsmonitoringreports.Thirty-eightpercentofthosewereBlackchildren.That percentageistroublinginlightofthefactBlackchildrenonlymakeup onlyabout16%ofchildreninthe County. ...
by Jacob Barrett
Highly experienced lawyers and new lawyers alike can improve their negotiation skills (just as they improve their trial skills). But without legal training, what can you do?
Lawyers often use checklists as part of learning how to handle certain types of cases or defenses. This article is ...
by Jacob Barrett
TheU.S.CourtofAppeals for theFourthCircuitruledadistrictcourtcannot simply“guess”that a victim suffered a qualifying “bodily injury” in connection with a robbery to trigger the two-level, bodily injury sentence enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines”) § 2B3.1(b)(3)(A).
MelvinThomasLewisandtwoothersrobbedapawnshop.Lewisstruckthe managerinthebackoftheheadthreetimes,causinghimtofalltothefloor.Thepoliceobserveda“redspot”onthebackofthemanager’s head, and he stated that he felt “dizzy.” He was taken to the hospital ...
by Jacob Barrett
OnremandfromtheU.S. SupremeCourt, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in light of Borden v.United States,141 S. Ct. 1817 (2021), Alan Victor Gomez Gomez’s conviction for aggravated assault in Texasdoes not qualify as an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2).
In a drunken ...
by Jacob Barrett
On May 24, 2021 the Oregon Legislature passed SB 418 banning police from lying to juveniles in order to obtain a confession during interrogations. The bill is part of a number of youth reform measures recently passed by the Legislature. Oregon is only the second state to ...
by Jacob Barrett
The Supreme Court of Oregon affirmed a circuit court order suppressing evidence discovered in a warrantless search conducted pursuant to the automobile exception. In doing so, the Court overruled the per se exigency rule of the automobile exception set forth in State v. Brown, 721 P.2d ...
by Jacob Barrett
On June 7, 2021 the Oregon Legislature passed HB 3355 establishing identification requirements for law enforcement assigned to “crowdmanagement” events in which large crowds of 50 persons or more are managed to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affrays, fights, or riots. (The bill carves out an ...
