Autism spectrum disorder prevalence is rising, and as this population enters adulthood, preliminary research has identified high rates of contact with the criminal justice system. Policy and programmatic reform are crucial given reported negative and violent outcomes for autistic individuals when encountering the criminal justice system. Given the…

Background: Local governments increasingly rely on sales taxes to raise revenue, often justifying the need for a local sales tax increase with a specific programmatic goal, such as better education or transportation. In Washington State, the legislature explained that a local sales tax increase was necessary to support criminal justice because…

The authors note that when it comes to balancing free speech and schools' responsibilities, the online world is largely uncharted waters. Questions remain about the rights of both students and teachers in the world of social media. Although the lower courts have ruled that students' freedom of speech rights offer them some protection for…

This article reports on a review of the literature comparing the outcomes of social workers with those of non-social workers. The review was commissioned by NASW's Texas Chapter to examine empirical evidence regarding the comparative effectiveness of social work to possibly support efforts to educate employers and the public about the value of…

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) public school educators' rights have not been clearly delineated by the courts. As such, the outcomes in legal controversies involving adverse employment consequences based on teachers' sexual orientation have varied somewhat across jurisdictions and have been decided on a case-by-case basis. To…

State profiles on youth in adult courts were compiled for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Federal District Courts. This volume contains profiles for the North Central states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The first part of each state profile…

State profiles of youth in adult courts were compiled for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Federal District Courts, This volume contains profiles for the Northeastern states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The first part of each…

State profiles of youth in adult courts were compiled for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Federal District Courts. This volume contains profiles for the South Central states of Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The first part of each state profile describes the…

State profiles of youth in adult courts were compiled for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Federal District Courts. This volume contains profiles for the Western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The first part of each state profile describes the…

Assesses the erosion by lower courts of the Supreme Court's l979 "Gannett v. DePasquale" ruling, which appeared to limit the right of access to criminal pretrial proceedings.(FL)

Since, in most cases, sequestration is no longer an option for judges to insure an impartial jury, judicial restraints or suppression orders directed at trial participants have become increasingly attractive. The problem is that the press has a desire to disseminate information about the judicial process to the public. Silence orders prohibiting…

This paper explores the small claims court as an alternative forum for the instruction of argumentation and suggests a possible format of a course utilizing such a concept. The first section of the paper offers a short history of the small claims court. The second section contains a course syllabus outlining the format of an argumentation course…

Drug courts depart from traditional criminal justice practice by directing nonviolent drug abusing offenders to intensive court-supervised drug treatment instead of to prison. An examination of drug courts is offered in this booklet. The text is based on extensive interviews with judges, prosecutors, public defenders, court administrators, police…

This manual was designed to familiarize social workers with the dramatically restructured family court practices in order to prepare them for a family court appearance. Chapter I presents a brief history of the family court and describes such aspects of the family court as confidentiality of proceedings, impact of a court record on the individual,…

Several states have recently commissioned special task forces to investigate and report on the status of women litigants, attorneys, and court employees. The reports present law schools with an urgent challenge and exciting opportunity to rethink and reconstruct legal education. (Author/MSE)