In the Community: Juvenile Justice Clinic Takes on Abolition of Juvenile Life Without Parole

Students in the Juvenile Justice Clinic are delving into legislative advocacy this spring as the Nevada Legislature holds its 2015 session. One of the clinic’s projects, the abolition of the sentence of juvenile life without parole, got a kick-start on January 22, when the clinic hosted a screening of the documentary, “15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story,” about a Florida man sentenced to life in prison for robberies he committed at age 14. A panel discussion followed the screening, with remarks by Assistant Federal Public Defender Megan Hoffman, criminal defense attorney Kristina Wildeveld and her recently pardoned client Marcus Dixon, and Boyd alumnus and former Assemblyman Jason Frierson. Dixon, now 31, had received two consecutive sentences of life without parole for a 1998 murder with use of a deadly weapon when he was just 14. But as is true of those so young, he is a different person now, one who understands how badly he “messed up” and is determined to lead a life that matters. Clinic students are working with a coalition of interested parties to abolish life without parole sentences and to establish presumptive parole eligibility dates for all those who were under 18 at the time of their crimes.

In the Community: Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic One of Seven Organizations in the Nation to Receive Justice AmeriCorps Grant to Serve Immigrant Children

For immigrant children, immigration court is a daunting place and having a lawyer can mean the difference between staying here or being deported. Children are not entitled to appointed counsel in immigration court, and few, if any, can afford counsel.  In Las Vegas, children in immigration court will now get counsel through a new grant sponsored by the Justice Department and the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps national service programs.

In the Community: The Business of Grassroots Organizing

Ahead of its official launch in fall 2014, the new Small Business and Nonprofit Legal Clinic (the “Clinic”), directed by Professor Eric Franklin, is already assisting community groups, including its first client, Nevadans for the Common Good (“NCG”), a grassroots political organization. Started in 2012, NCG is a broad and diverse group of nonprofits, schools, and religious organizations, focusing on some of Nevada’s most pressing issues, including child sex trafficking, the vulnerable elderly, immigrant integration, education, foreclosures, and neighborhood blight. NCG claimed its first victory in 2013, with the passage of Assembly Bill 67, recognizing the crime of sex trafficking.