Virginia: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings (2002)

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, the spirit and promise of the Gault decision has been largely unfulfilled. With little exception, juvenile indigent defense practices have gone unchecked. The purpose of this assessment is to take a closer look at juvenile defense practices in Virginia, identify the systemic and institutional barriers that impede the development of an improved legal service delivery system, highlight innovative practices and offer recommendations for change.

Throughout the course of conducting this assessment, the investigative team encountered many devoted and talented lawyers for children who, despite the odds, provided remarkable legal services to children. Their commitment, dedication and zeal were palpable. But across the state, this type of vigorous representation is not widespread, or even very common. This assessment reveals significant gaps in indigent defense practices, including flaws in the appointment process, lack of time and resources to adequately prepare a case, a tendency to accept plea offers rather than aggressively protecting the rights and needs of children and the near absence of any post-dispositional legal representation. The system as it is presently structured, is, at best, uneven, and clearly has had a disproportionate impact on poor and minority children.