Page 35 - Juvenile Practice is not Child's Play

What Do You Need to Know About your Client (and What To Do About It)

Developmental Disabilities

If your client has developmental disabilities, it is important for you to know about these and obtain the proper

documentation. If you provide this documentation to the prosecution, you could get a favorable disposition of the case
including, perhaps, a dismissal. Evidence of disabilities can also help with mitigation, or you may be able to use it to
show that your client could not form the requisite intent for the offense charged.

1. What You Need to Know About Special Education

If your client has education-related disabilities, take the time to research them and to become knowledgeable about
the federal special education laws (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). This may be the best investment
you can make in your case and your juvenile practice. There is a huge body of law and surprisingly broad remedies
designed to assist children and these problems if you bring an administrative action under the IDEA against the
school district (or if the client’s family fires a special education attorney). You can even recover attorney’s fees if

you prevail in a special education matter. And the matter may positively impact your client’s delinquency case.

Under the federal special education law, you can get the juvenile court to order the school system to pay to evaluate

your client’s eligibility for special education services, including neurological and other testing. The court can also
require individualized educational programs for the child and may be required to order the child into the least
restrictive placement available. Your client may also be entitled to myriad services, such as counseling, therapeutic
recreation, mentoring, tutoring, job coaching, and a variety of other supports that can extend in most circumstances

until your client is 21 years old.

2. What You Need to Know About Intellectual Disability
While experts estimate that 1 to 3% of the general population has an intellectual disability, youth justice researchers
estimate that across all jurisdictions in the United States, an average of 33% of youth offenders have an intellectual
30
disability.

According to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, intellectual disability is, “a
disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which
covers many everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before the age of 18.” American

30 https://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/litreviews/Intellectual-Developmental-Disabilities.pdf