We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
What Happens Behind Bars Should Not Stay Behind Bars: The Case for an Exhaustion Exception to the Prison Litigation Reform Act for Juveniles.
- Authors
Bennett, Samantha
- Abstract
Congress enacted the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA") in an effort to reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits brought by prisoners. As a result of some of its provisions, however--in particular, the exhaustion provision--nonfrivolous suits are effectively blocked from reaching the courts, enabling grave injustices to persist in America's prison facilities without any accountability. Virtually unchecked, prison officials construct complex grievance procedures that make full compliance nearly impossible, thus barring many meritorious lawsuits from moving forward. Although children are particularly vulnerable to these abuses, the PLRA holds children to the same standard as adults in this context: exhaustion of administrative remedies is mandatory. Children--who are either detained or incarcerated in adult or juvenile facilities--now face danger when the government should otherwise act to protect them. But with recent Supreme Court precedent recognizing distinctions between children and adults that call for different treatment in the criminal justice context, the system is finally ripe for change for juveniles in custody. This Note proposes an amendment to the PLRA to allow for an exception to the exhaustion provision for juveniles, as well as formal recommendations to improve grievance procedures applicable to juveniles.
- Subjects
PRISON Litigation Reform Act of 1996 (U.S.); FRIVOLOUS suits (Civil procedure); ACTIONS &; defenses (Law); JUVENILE offenders; CRIMINAL justice system
- Publication
George Washington Law Review, 2018, Vol 86, Issue 2, p587
- ISSN
0016-8076
- Publication type
Article