Drug Court Review Special Edition on Juvenile Drug Courts

A Special Issue on Juvenile Drug Courts

Introduction to Special Issue on Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts

Adolescent Outpatient Treatment

 

Melissa L. Ives, M.S.W., Ya-Fen Chan, Ph.D., Kathryn C. Modisette, M.A., and Michael L. Dennis, Ph.D

Altering Risk Processes Associated with Delinquency and Substance Abuse

Cindy M. Schaeffer, Ph.D., Scott W. Henggeler, Ph.D., Jason E. Chapman, Ph.D., Colleen A. Halliday-Boykins, Ph.D., Phillippe B. Cunningham, Ph.D., Jeff Randall, Ph.D., and Steven B. Shapiro, M.S

Hearings in a Juvenile Drug Court

Benta Samuelson Christopher Salvatore, M.A., Jamie S. Henderson, M.A., Matthew L. Hiller, Ph.D., Elise White, and

Developing Accountability in the Lives of Youth: Defining the Operational Features of Juvenile Treatment Courts

Pamela Linden, Ph.D., Shelly Cohen, Ph.D., Robyn Cohen, Ann Bader, M.P.A., and Michael Magnani,

Legislative Initiatives

Sean Clark, J.D., James McGuire, M.S.W., Ph.D., and Jessica Blue-Howells, M.S.

Early reporting on KY Task Force on Penal Code proposal

Kentucky drug laws would change under proposal   John Cheeves Bluegrass Politics Blog

More of Kentucky’s drug criminals would be sentenced to probation and addiction treatment instead of incarceration under a broad reform bill proposed Tuesday by a high-powered committee created to find cheaper alternatives to prison.

The Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act is meeting to discuss and sometimes debate a draft of its final proposal for the 2011 General Assembly, which resumes Feb. 1.

The 100-page bill would rewrite many of Kentucky’s criminal laws, especially those concerning illegal drugs.

It would establish a penalty of “presumptive probation” for some lesser offenses, such as drug possession, that would require judges to sentence defendants to probation unless they could give a compelling reason why the defendants could not safely be supervised in the community. It also would require up to a year of addiction treatment for people convicted of drug possession.

Marijuana possession would be reduced from a Class A misdemeanor, which brings up to a year in jail, to a Class B misdemeanor with a maximum jail term of 45 days, if the judge ordered incarceration at all.

The bill would fine-tune drug-trafficking laws so that people caught selling larger volumes of drugs would face tougher penalties than those selling two to four ounces or less, depending on the type of drug.

The offense of drug trafficking near a school, which now covers drug crimes within 1,000 yards of a school, would be reduced to 1,000 feet.

At the same time, the proposal would create a new Class A felony — the most serious level of crime, other than a capital offense — for people convicted of “commercial drug trafficking.” That charge would be possible if someone had an illegal drug in quantities greater than five times necessary to trigger the trafficking statute and if they were guilty of at least five of 10 possible aggravating circumstances, such as possessing $10,000 or more in cash, a gun, a list of customers or drug transactions, or drug-manufacturing paraphernalia.

Task force members said they want stiff prison sentences for high-volume drug dealers but not necessarily for addicts whose only crime is personal possession. One-fourth of Kentucky’s nearly 21,000 inmates are being held for drug offenses.

The task force includes the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees, a former prosecutor, a defense lawyer, the secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and Kentucky’s chief justice. It will present the draft bill on Wednesday to the legislature’s Joint Interim Committee on the Judiciary.

Kentucky unable to acquire lethal injection drug

Companies won't sell Kentucky lethal injection drug

by Brett Barrouquere AP

Amid a nationwide shortage of a lethal injection drug, documents obtained under a freedom of information request show two pharmaceutical companies declined to sell Kentucky a supply of the sedative.

The state e-mails obtained by The Associated Press show one firm, KRS Global Biotechnology of Boca Raton, Fla., explained it's refusal by saying there was no doctor involved in the purchase of sodium thiopental, even though Kentucky law bars physicians from being involved in administering executions.

No reason was given in the e-mail traffic between state officials and pharmacists for a canceled order from the other company, Spectrum Chemical and Laboratory Products of Gardenia, Calif. A Spectrum official told the AP the ordered was scrapped when it sold that part of its business last year.

SCOTUSblog recap of Kentucky v. King oral argument

Argument recap: Choosing the rule for warrantless searches when police create exigent circumstances

During oral argument in Kentucky v. King on Wednesday, the Court struggled to find the proper test for determining when police are prohibited from justifying a warrantless search with exigent circumstances that they create.  Because neither side supported the Kentucky Supreme Court’s two-prong test, a straightforward affirmance seems very unlikely; instead, the Court focused on whether the state’s proposed “lawfulness” test or another of the five tests currently being used by lower courts is best.

Jason Nemes on whether the KY Supreme Court is more likely to reverse a case that it has decided to review - Law Reader

Reversal rates in cases considered on discretionary review by Jason Nemes

One of the most frequent questions I am asked by attorneys preparing a motion for discretionary review is whether their case, if reviewed, is likely to be affirmed or reversed.  While it is difficult to predict particular cases, the statistics do allow for some useful generalizations.

Kentucky v. King Argument this Wednesday

DPA's Jamesa Drake will be arguing in the United States Supreme Court this Wednesday.

SCOTUSblog has all the details posted

Issue: Under what circumstances can lawful police action impermissibly ”create” exigent circumstances that preclude warrantless entry?

Plain English Issue: Although the police usually need a warrant to enter someone’s home, there is an exception for emergency situations. The question is whether that exception can apply when the emergency is created by the lawful actions of the police.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Briefs and Documents

Merits Briefs

Amicus Briefs

Certiorari-Stage Documents

For petitioner: Joshua D. Farley, Assistant Attorney General,
Frankfort, Ky.; and Ann O’Connell, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington,
D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.)

For respondent: Jamesa J. Drake, Assistant Public Advocate,
Frankfort, Ky.

SCOTUS Blog - Police-created exigent circumstances in Kentucky v. King

SCOTUS Blog provides an explanation of the issues in this case to be argued next Wednesday by DPA's Jamesa Drake.

In this post, I want to talk about the facts of the case and then consider the legal issues. I want to make three points in particular. First, the facts of the case are still in dispute on an essential point. Second, the legal issue presented in the case is surprisingly narrow, a point that the briefing largely misses. Third, the theories offered by the state and the United States as amicus curiae are in my view far too broad, but the best answer is actually quite tricky but should be rooted in causation principles.