U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES: YOUTH'S AGE IS RELEVANT IN MIRANDA ANALYSIS

A youth’s age is relevant when deciding whether a person being questioned by police is in “custody,” triggering the need for a Miranda warning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision.
At issue was whether J.D.B., a 13-year-old special education student, had the right to a Miranda warning when he was pulled from his middle school classroom and questioned by a police officer. The North Carolina Supreme Court had ruled the teen was not in custody when he was questioned, so a Miranda warning was not required.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote the majority opinion, said age is relevant to the analysis and remanded for a new determination of whether the student was in custody. “To hold, as the state requests, that a child’s age is never relevant to whether a suspect has been taken into custody—and thus to ignore the very real differences between children and adults—would be to deny children the full scope of the procedural safeguards that Miranda guarantees to adults,” she wrote.
The ABA had filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that children, as compared to adults, have unique vulnerabilities. It is the third time in recent years that the ABA has filed an amicus brief on the unique status of children.

GEORGIA PHYSICIANS MUST DISCLOSE WHETHER THEY HAVE MALPRACTICE INSURANCE

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed a law last month, requiring physicians to inform the Georgia Composite Medical Board if they are insured. The board will make the information available on its website as part of a physician's public profile. Physicians must disclose whether they are covered by insurance when asked by patients. If the physician declines to inform his or her patients, the physician is subject to disciplinary action by the board.

THE STATUS OF FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR GIFTED STUDENTS

Congress eliminated Jacob K. Javits grants for research on gifted and talented education in the fiscal 2011 budget agreement.
The Talent Act, sponsored by Sen. Charles E. "Chuck" Grassley, R-Iowa as S.857 and by Rep. Elton W. Gallegly, R.-Calif. as H.R.1674 has put forth a set of changes to incorporate gifted education in the next authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It would:
• Overhaul the Javits research grants;
• Require assessments capable of measuring growth among high-performing students;
• Include gifted education in federal professional development grants for teachers; and
• Call for schools to include plans to serve high-performing students in poverty in their Title I or school improvement plans.
Sen. Grassley said he considers the bill "a marker for the upcoming reauthorization debate for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.”
For more details on the bill, see Talent Act presentation.ppt delivered at the Senate.