Many people have the mistaken belief that their juvenile record is expunged when they reach the age of 18. While juvenile records are not available to the general public, your record is not automatically wiped clean at the age of 18, and records of charges, adjudications and dispositions can be maintained and viewed by Read More
A Franklin, Pennsylvania, high school student went on a knife-wielding attack in April, leaving 21 students and one security guard badly injured. The attacker used two 8-inch knives to bludgeon and slash his way through the school, before police finally stopped and arrested the 16-year-old young man. He will be tried as an adult Read More
The Altoona Mirror reported that Blair County Judges reached a 4-2 vote rejecting the state’s mandatory sentence laws, specifically those imposing minimum sentences. This decision comes following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Alleyne v. United States, ruling that a jury should decide whether certain factors have been proven to trigger a mandatory sentence. Read More
Social media has infiltrated nearly every facet of our lives, especially those of the younger generation. Some of this inclusion is for the good, while some of the roles social media has played have been shocking. One such negative use of social media recently caught national attention, affecting criminal law in Pennsylvania. An anonymous Read More
As a juvenile criminal defense attorney in State College, Pennsylvania, I am well aware of the dangers of cyber-bulling and the life-altering effects such emotional battery can have on a child’s psyche. A recent story from The New York Times highlights a girl, attacked and abused over social media by her middle school peers, Read More