This assessment report provides an overview of Michigan’s system of juvenile defense. It examines the extent to which youth in delinquency court are provided with well-qualified and effective counsel at all critical stages and addresses systemic barriers that may impede effective representation and hamper due process and equal protection of the law. It measures structure,…

The National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC), in partnership with our regional juvenile defender centers and other key stakeholders, has embarked on a nationwide strategy to assess access to and quality of juvenile defense afforded to youth in conflict with the law. Because juvenile justice systems are a state and local responsibility, rather than a federal…

NJDC’s expert investigators visited Delaware’s three counties, where they conducted interviews with ODS staff and other juvenile court stakeholders, observed delinquency proceedings, and obtained information and reports from the Delaware Family Courts. Investigators also completed a statutory review of the state’s court rules, laws, and proposed legislation. It was readily apparent that those responsible for…

While Missouri stands out for its innovation in providing small, regionalized juvenile corrections programs, an effective juvenile justice system is not built solely upon the corrections options available to youth after they have navigated their way through a complex legal process. An effective juvenile justice system must encompass the foundational elements of fundamental fairness and…

Coloradans have an abiding interest in ensuring that the justice system is not the dumping ground for failing schools, mental health systems, or parents who want the state to control their children. The justice system should be reserved for those youth who must be there. When youth do have the misfortune of coming into contact…

In West Virginia, full-time public defenders work for the Public Defender Corporation, established by W.Va. Code 29-21-1, et seq. By statute, all indigent defense work is to be assigned to public defender offices except for conflicts and case overloads. However, public defender offices exist in only 23 of 55 counties (18 of 31 Judicial Circuits)…

Children have a clearly established constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel in delinquency cases and juvenile defenders are vital to protect and enforce that right. In addition, skilled juvenile defenders can play an important role in opening doors to positive opportunities and helping children become productive and contributing members of society. As stated…

In 1967, in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967), the United States Supreme Court extended the right to counsel to young people accused of crimes, explaining that youth need “the guiding hand of counsel” to respond to the charges leveled against them and to navigate the complicated justice system. This assessment of access to…

The Mississippi assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation in youth court proceedings is part of a national effort to address deficiencies and highlight strengths in juvenile indigent defense practices. Forty years after the United States Supreme Court ruled in In re Gault that children in the delinquency system have a right to…

From the inception of the world’s first juvenile court over 100 years ago, the State of Illinois has long led the way in the creation of a fair and equitable juvenile justice system for children. Illinois has historically been a place where new ideas and strategies that impact children and families have been born, tested…

The information in this report was collected by a team of experts from across the country and Florida, with the guidance of a dedicated advisory board of Florida stakeholders and the support of the Florida Supreme Court, Florida Bar Association, Florida Public Defender’s Association and the elected Public Defenders. Observers traveled to 10 of Florida’s…

This assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation for children in Indiana is part of a nationwide effort to address deficiencies and identify strengths in juvenile indigent defense practices. More than thirty-five years after the United States Supreme Court decided in In re Gault that children have a constitutional right to counsel, the…

In 1995, a national assessment of the legal representation of children in delinquency proceedings was conducted by the American Bar Association (ABA) Juvenile Justice Center, Youth Law Center (YLC) and Juvenile Law Center (JLC). The findings—that indigent juvenile defense was woefully inadequate—were published in A Call for Justice: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and…

This assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation received by children in the State of Maryland is part of a nationwide effort to address deficiencies and identify strengths in juvenile indigent defense practices. More than thirty-five years after the United States Supreme Court decided that children have a constitutional right to counsel, the…

This study reveals that Maine’s juvenile justice system depends upon the perseverance of dedicated, but under-resourced advocates who rely on luck in locating and providing necessary services for the youth they represent. Maine cannot meet the promise of rehabilitation set forth in its juvenile code, nor can Maine guarantee the highest quality juvenile defense system…

In 2002, the Central Juvenile Defender Center, through the Children’s Law Center, Inc. in Covington, Kentucky, in conjunction with the ABA National Juvenile Defender Center and the Juvenile Justice Coalition, Inc. embarked upon a statewide study of Ohio’s indigent juvenile defense system. The study included extensive surveying of judges, magistrates and defense attorneys, and detention…

The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the quality of counsel defending children in Washington’s juvenile courts. Stakeholders from across the state were invited to participate in defining the objectives of WJJAP, including judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, bar association leaders, university professors, social scientists, child welfare providers, civil legal service attorneys and others…

This assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation received by children in the State of Montana is part of a nationwide effort to address deficiencies and identify strengths in juvenile indigent defense practices. More than thirty-five years after the United States Supreme Court decided that children have a constitutional right to counsel, the…

This assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation that children receive in delinquency proceedings in the State of North Carolina is part of a nationwide effort to address deficiencies and identify strengths in juvenile indigent defense practices. Over thirty-five years after the United States Supreme Court decided that children have a constitutional right…

This assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation that children receive in delinquency proceedings in the Commonwealth of Virginia is part of a nationwide effort to address deficiencies and identify strengths in juvenile indigent defense practices. Thirty-five years after the United States Supreme Court decided that children have a constitutional right to counsel,…

This reassessment of access to counsel and quality of representation in Kentucky delinquency proceedings is part of a local and national movement to continually review indigent defense delivery systems and evaluate how effectively attorneys in juvenile court are fulfilling constitutional and statutory obligations to their clients. This study is designed to provide broad information about…

Central to this report is whether youth are receiving adequate counsel in the justice system and, concomitantly, whether the lack of defense services has a substantive, harmful impact on these children and their families. The data collected, comments from children, families, and professionals working within the system all suggest that the fallout from inadequate defense…