Gault Center Publications
The Campaign Against Indiscriminate Juvenile Shackling (CAIJS), created in August 2014, works across the country to support advocates in their efforts to amend laws, court rules, policies and practices in their own states to end the automatic shackling of children in juvenile court. CAIJS is a project of the National Campaign to Reform State Juvenile…
The Campaign Against Indiscriminate Juvenile Shackling (CAIJS), created in August 2014, works to support stakeholders, advocates, and policymakers in their efforts to amend laws, court rules, policies and practices in states to end the automatic shackling of children in juvenile court. The Campaign assists these groups in developing laws and policies that have a presumption…
This resource brief addresses the unique considerations associated with representing dual status youth and offers practice tips for juvenile defenders to help navigate the terrain. This resource brief also explores the growing reform trend of multi-system collaboration and coordination to improve outcomes for dual status youth and offers guidance in this arena as well.
Model statute on shackling reform.
Fact sheet on the use of shackling in youth court.
In juvenile courts throughout the nation, children arrive, face full hearings, and depart weighed down by handcuffs, leg irons, and belly chains. They appear this way not because they pose a threat to others in the courtroom or are a flight risk but because most jurisdictions indiscriminately shackle all youth in juvenile court, often without…
Youth involved in delinquency proceedings are constitutionally entitled to have highly competent lawyers represent them at every critical stage of the case. To provide this high-level representation, defense attorneys who work in juvenile court should receive specialized training: they should be familiar with the juvenile court process and the role of the juvenile defender, the…
For any young person, navigating the juvenile delinquency process can be daunting. Youth are required to understand, make decisions, and act on their rights and responsibilities in court. Yet courtinvolved youth are likely to face challenges that impact their ability to understand and participate in juvenile court. The legal jargon, abstract language, and complex terminology…
There is an immediate and predominant need for specialized training in juvenile defense: training is both the foundation and the gateway to comprehensive advocacy by juvenile defenders, and it is key to ensuring that youths’ constitutionally mandated due process rights are protected. To be effective and zealous advocates, juvenile defenders must develop a set of…
The Supreme Court’s 1967 ruling in In re Gault established the right for all children to have counsel in delinquency proceedings, but the nature of that right has often been unclear or misunderstood, even by some juvenile defenders charged with protecting the liberty and interests of their young clients. Juvenile defense standards provide juvenile defenders…
Quality legal representation informed by social science research and best practices is integral to ensuring the fair administration of justice in the juvenile delinquency system. The importance of a youth’s access to knowledgeable, well-resourced juvenile indigent defense counsel cannot be overstated. The prevalence of lowbid, flat-fee contracting schemes for court-appointed and contract juvenile indigent defense…
This resource brief is intended to support juvenile defense advocacy by providing an overview of some of the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) revisions, as well as recommendations and implications for juvenile defense practice. The DSM is a classification manual for mental health professionals with itemized criteria for diagnosing disorders. Juvenile…
The defender’s unique challenge is to be the advocate—the voice—of the child. To meet this challenge, and to be able to offer the court the expressed interests of the child, the juvenile defender must master a diverse set of skills to uphold core ethical obligations and to help clients navigate the complexities of the justice…
These principles are developed as a resource to help defenders and other juvenile court professionals understand the elements of effective detention advocacy on behalf of indigent juvenile clients. Defenders can be at a distinct disadvantage at the detention determination, whether it is at the beginning of the case, when indigent defense counsel often has the…
The juvenile court system is a very complicated and confusing place for anyone who does not regularly work within it. Court involvement can be a extremely stressful process in which children and their families feel like they are being judged and imposed upon at every turn. For all the reasons outlined in this fact sheet,…
Hidden Injustice represents the first effort to examine the experiences of LGBT youth in juvenile courts across the country. The report is based on information collected from 414 surveys and 65 interviews with juvenile justice professionals, including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers, detention staff, and other juvenile justice advocates; focus groups and interviews of…
The Ten Core Principles for Providing Quality Delinquency Representation through Public Defense Delivery Systems provide criteria by which a public defense delivery system may fully implement the holding of In re Gault. These Principles offer guidance to public defense leaders and policymakers regarding the role of public defenders, contract attorneys, or assigned counsel in delivering…
Intended for juvenile court judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and probation staff, the curriculum provides in-depth training materials on the most up-to-date adolescent development research and its application to juvenile court practice. As a part of the MacArthur Foundation’s project, Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice, this curriculum is available to jurisdictions across the…
The overarching goal of the Juvenile Defender Delinquency Notebook, 2nd Edition is to empower defenders to practice holistic and zealous representation in the defense of children who find themselves before our nation’s justice systems. We also believe that this publication illustrates the complexities inherent in the defense of children and, consequently, the specialization and training…
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, juvenile courts across the country have adopted video and teleconferencing to conduct virtual hearings. Although initially embraced as an emergency measure, virtual proceedings continue to be utilized even as jurisdictions increasingly lift restrictions on in-person hearings. This new “hybrid” model is being heralded as a groundbreaking way to…
As a general principle and under normal circumstances, the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) strongly opposes the use of remote hearings in juvenile delinquency proceedings. Remote hearings present serious due process concerns, as they create insurmountable barriers to effective assistance of counsel, harm attorney-client relationships and confidentiality, and lead to worse outcomes for youth. However,…