The Children Left Behind: A Review of the Status of Defense for Louisiana’s Children and Youth in Delinquency Proceedings

In June 2001, the assessment of Louisiana’s youth defense delivery system was released, revealing numerous concerning findings, including:

• An extremely high incidence of waiver of counsel among children, many of whom waive without speaking to a lawyer or understanding the critical consequences of their decision.
• An extremely high use of pleas to handle cases of juvenile delinquency, even those of a serious nature, and frequently without counsel.
• An alarming lack of advocacy on the part of many juvenile defenders due to crushing caseloads, lack of a full-time practice, inadequate resources, lack of training and supervision, and a juvenile justice culture that presumes guilt and places little value on zealous representation.
• A total lack of reliable, uniform case tracking information by the local indigent defender in order to monitor juvenile case outcomes, provide supervision, assess needs and set priorities for ongoing defense practices.
• A great disparity between the salaries and resources for juvenile prosecutors compared to juvenile public defenders.
• An over-reliance on juvenile probation officers by the juvenile justice system to handle often conflicting roles, such as conducting initial interviews of youth and seeking their waiver of counsel, preparing petitions for the prosecuting attorneys, advising the court on sentencing and monitoring youths’ compliance with disposition.

This report, released in 2002, describes the state’s response to this crisis during the first year following the initial assessment report and includes more recent stories and comments concerning people’s experiences in Louisiana’s juvenile courts.