Criminal lawyers are ready and available to assist you and your child through the Juvenile Justice System. The processing of juvenile offenders is somewhat similar to adult criminal processing, but there are crucial differences. This is why it is important to retain a lawyer with specific experience in juvenile law.Juvenile courts usually have jurisdiction over matters concerning children, including delinquency, neglect, and adoption. They also handle "status offenses" such as truancy and running away, which are not applicable to adults. State statutes define which persons are under the original jurisdiction of the juvenile court. The upper age of juvenile court jurisdiction in delinquency matters is 17 in most states.Many juveniles are referred to juvenile courts by law enforcement officers, but many others are referred by school officials, social services agencies, neighbors, and even parents, for behavior or conditions that are determined to require intervention by the formal system for social control.At the arrest, a decision is made either to send the matter further into the justice system or to divert the ... Read more..
Archive for November, 2007
The U.S. Drug Abuse Regulation and Control Act of 1970 (Controlled Substances Act) is designed to limit and control access to intoxicating drugs and to control certain other drugs of abuse, such as anabolic steroids used by athletes to increase muscle mass. It is a law over and above the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Durham-Humphrey laws that designate drugs as prescription only or over the counter and freely available to the public. Thus, a prescription drug may or may not also be a controlled substance.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decides which drugs are prescription, while the DEA decides which drugs are controlled substances. In 1970, Controlled Substances Act replaced the Harrison Narcotic Act, which preceded it. The newer act allows for finer control of drugs of abuse, since it uses 5 categories instead of 3. Along with the Controlled Substances Act were harsher prison sentences, new DEA registration numbers for all prescribers or drug handlers, and other additions that are beyond the scope of this document.Most states have ... Read more..
Federal controls over the drug supply began with inspection of imported drugs in 1848. Modern drugs and narcotics law encompass federal, state and international laws to interdict and eradicate the use, cultivation, processing and transportation of illicit drugs.The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is the lead Federal agency in enforcing narcotics and controlled substance laws and regulations. The Administration maintains liaison with the United Nations, INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization - ICPO), and other organizations on matters relating to international narcotics control programs. It has offices throughout the United States and in 50 foreign countries.The first national drug law was the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which required accurate labeling of patent medicines containing opium and certain other drugs. In 1914 the Harrison Narcotic Act forbade sale of substantial doses of opiates or cocaine except by licensed doctors and pharmacies. Later, heroin was totally banned. Subsequent Supreme Court decisions made it illegal for doctors to prescribe any narcotic to addicts; many doctors who prescribed maintenance doses as ... Read more..
Domestic violence, also known as partner abuse, spouse abuse, or battering, occurs when one person uses force to inflict injury, either emotional or physical, upon another person they have, or had, a relationship with. It occurs between spouses and partners, parents and children, children and grandparents, and brothers and sisters. Victims can any age, race, or gender.Domestic violence is the single largest cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States, more than muggings, car accidents, and rapes combined. Each year between 2 million and 4 million women are battered, and 2,000 of these battered women will die of their injuries. Violence against men by women is also a problem, according to the August 2000 Annals of Emergency Medicine. In a study of an inner city hospital, men reported slightly more physical violence than women (20 percent of men and 19 percent of women), although women reported significantly more past and present nonphysical violence than ... Read more..
Assault and battery is the combination of two violent crimes: assault (the threat of violence) and battery (actual physical violence). The main distinction between the two offenses is the existence or nonexistence of touching and/or contact. While contact is an essential element of battery, there must be an absence of contact for assault. If the victim has been actually touched by the person committing the crime, then battery has occurred. If the victim has not actually been touched, but only threatened, then the crime is considered to be assault.Battery requires no minimum degree of force, nor does it need to be applied directly; i.e. administering poison and transmitting a disease may both be legally considered as battery. Accidents and ordinary negligence are not, nor is reasonable force used in the performance of duty (e.g., by a police officer trying to subdue an offender). Assault and battery are offenses in both criminal and tort law and can give rise to criminal or civil liability. In criminal law, an assault may ... Read more..
