Fall 2025
Professor(s):
Ellen Marrus (EMERTI)
Credits: 3
Course Areas: Constitutional and Criminal Law
Practice Skills - (Research and Writing)
Time: 10:30a-12:00p TTH Location: 312
Course Outline: This course focuses on the development of the juvenile delinquency system and the juvenile courts through the examination of the history of the juvenile justice system in the U.S., United States Supreme Court cases, state cases, statutes, and additional readings. We will discuss the process of how juvenile cases are handled when a child is charged with an act that would be criminal if committed by an adult. This course is based on theory and practice. Students will be responsible for participating in simulated role plays – client interviewing, a detention hearing, a transfer hearing, and/or a dispositional hearing. Students will be responsible for 3-4 reaction papers of approximately 1000 words each, and two other writing assignments. These will be described in more detail closer to the fall semester as part of the assignments will depend on our ability to visit different facilities or attend hearings in the juvenile courts.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Quota=16.
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: simulation
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Unavailable (Instructor Preference)
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: Ellen Marrus, CHILDREN AND JUVENILE JUSTICE, 3rd edition (Carolina Academic Press (2021) ISBN: 9781611638974
NATIONAL JUVENILE DEFENSE STANDARDS, https://www.defendyouthrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/National-Juvenile-Defense-Standards.pdf
APPLYING PRINCIPLES OF ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT IN DELINQUENCY PROCEEDINGS HTTPS://WWW.DEFENDYOUTHRIGHTS.ORG/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/NJDC_ADOLESCENT-DEVELOPMENT_BENCH-CARD.PDF
Additional materials may be made available during the semester either in class, via email or online.
