| Show IL 0 r I WINI1 rIM T I 1 1' the ages of ten through 17 of six boys and one Between 24 every will be referred to girls court on delinquency charges Of those whose cases are heard each year roughly one of ten will be committed to a corrective institution and three put on probation This is the estimate of the Children's Bureau of the Department of Health Education and Welfare The parent who is not prepared for the arrest and court process that rriay follow had better bone up fast Forget innocent forget guilty In either event the thing a parent needs to know is that there are options there are rights to be safeguarded Fail to know them understand them and act on them and you could do your child irreparable damage Brief hearings The juvenile courts are not supposed to "punish" but there aren't a whole lot of cher ways to look at commitment to state training schools for minor vandalism Courts are supposed to center on good will compassion and understanding but a California state study reports that the average time spent on a juvenile court case is ten to 15 minutes They play word games to avoid stigmatization of the youngsters but the "juvenile delinquent" label has 2cquired all the built-i- n charms of "criminal" The fact of arrest by itself can kill job opportunities notwithstanding the court's pious declarations that all proceedings shall be confidential police records are very much available in some jurisdictions to private employers as well as government agencies To add the final Frankenstein touch though their aim is rehabilitation too many juvenile institutions today efficient have become terrifyingly schools for crime and sexual perversion In fact says the Children's Bureau 30 to 60 percent of the "graduates" wind up back in custody on new charges How many wind up as homosexuals or traumatized for the rest of their lives is an unnerving subject for - harsh-soundi- speculation With this in mind the parent of a child - trouble needs to do some objective thinking not certainly with the idea of cheating justice but of best serving it Here's where your Right Number One—which could be Duty Number One—begins: you can have the help 4 of a lawyer As the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice points out "The most informal and of judicial proceedings are technical few adults without legal training can influence or even understand them certainly children cannot" Gerald Gault could have used a lawyer but his parents didn't see the need Gerald was 15 when he was arrested in 1964 and sent to Juvenile Court in Utah for "talking dirty" over the telephone to a neighbor's cleaning woman For the same offense an adult would have drawn a maximum sentence of two months in jail or a $50 fine Juveniles though are never tried for a specific crime but under the umbrella of "delinquency" and Gerald got six years in a correctional institution In the process of being convicted he was denied: 1 Clear advice that he could be represented by counsel 2 Specific notice of the charges against him 3 The opportunity to confront and witnesses 4 The privilege to remain silent (in other words the right to refuse to incriminate himself) 5 The right to appeal to a higher court 6 Any transcript or record of the proceedings H El T1711 I 11 -- '' - r r 1 4''''it i - TS 1 ' 1 1 it --t t 1 - ''' I i' ki I - 0 - "' 0- 't L Ai 111 0' j7 I "'"IMdr1 cross-exami- C Can you cope? Would you an adult recognize the absence of any of these rights? Would their implications? you understand Could you capably a witness? Could you tell admissible evidence from inadmissible? There's every reason to believe you wouldn't and couldn't—strong arguments in favor of finding a lawyer fast That a child has the right to counsel and all but the last two of the other safeguards denied to Gerald Gault was actually only established across the nation because Gerald got lucky His was the first juvenile court case in history reviewed by the Supreme Court which held that "Under our Constitution the condition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court" and that any child threatened with commitment is entitled to a free lawyer to represent him if his parents can't afford to hire one More importantly on May 15 1967 it awarded use of the Due Process clause —4— rrdiar4L:: -- 74L- --- -- : ' IF07-— 14f:: :-0-'L""a-em""e-- cross-exami- state-submitt- ' L : 400001!'"7:1( 1'n 76 07a 'IL ' 3 - ''-- ' 4Pat:ir r 'It 0 :' f : ! ' : '7 ' - ' ' ' '''::' c' ' : :1 1:-- Sollkl r:7if4 ' ' ' '- ' '- ' ' - ''''''' ' 12-'--' 1401:g:&:'41OW" '''''' ::L'': :r :::"":""4''" 1 i'Lk- 44 ''''i 4 §1b— 4P ' li 'iceo'"""rnmnw :i ' ' ''40'L" l 44 141' lik A - At l': - NO state-provid- 'N I Inside looking out: youth may owe his plight to the fact that his paients saw no need for a lawyer Result: a court record that can do him irreparable harm PARADE AUGUST 101969 |
