Sheppard Mullin Joins Forces with the ACLU and the National Center for Youth Law to Protect Riverside County Youth
LOS ANGELES (July 2, 2018) Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP along with American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; ACLU SoCal; ACLU NorCal; ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties; and the National Center for Youth Law jointly filed a class action lawsuit in Riverside County against the Youth Accountability Team (YAT) demanding that the YAT program be forced to adhere to the U.S. Constitution's due process clause and California state Constitution provisions. The lawsuit claims that YAT treats children who have not been convicted of crimes like hardened criminals with surprise searches, unannounced home visitations, strict restrictions on who participants can speak to, curfews, and interrogations into intimate details of their lives. The program is far more likely to be applied to youths of color.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Riverside on behalf of three students and the non-profit mentoring organization Sigma Beta Xi that works with local youths of color.
The Sheppard Mullin team working on the litigation include partner Moe Keshavarzi and lead associate Andrea Feathers. Other team members providing support include associates Tim Kim, Yaas Hejazi, and Alexander Robinson.
Click here to read the ACLU press release.