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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:48 am
Time: 1:48 am
Results for defense counsel
1 results foundAuthor: National Juvenile Defender Center Title: Delaware: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings Summary: Fifty years ago, the United States Supreme Court affirmed children's constitutional right to due process and to the assistance of counsel in delinquency court. The historic decision, known as In re Gault, set forth a new status quo for the country: the pursuit of justice in juvenile court was no longer an abstract ideal but a necessary function of law requiring protections under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Threaded into the Supreme Court's opinion were simple and yet, at the time, radical notions that children who face charges in juvenile court deserve a legal advocate to safeguard their rights and interests; and that the good intentions of government, when left unchecked, cause injury to children, their families, and their future opportunities. Today, states are still working to fulfill this vision - central to which is an effective system of appointing high-quality defense counsel at all stages of a young person's case. Over the last two decades, the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) has evaluated juvenile defense delivery systems in 21 states; Delaware is now the 22nd. The purpose of a state assessment is to provide policymakers, legislators, and defense leadership, among other stakeholders, with a comprehensive understanding of children's access to counsel in the state, to identify structural and systemic barriers to ensuring effective representation for young people, and to offer best-practices recommendations to improve access to and quality of juvenile defense. The First State - as Delaware is proudly known - provides legal representation for youth charged in delinquency court through the Office of Defense Services (ODS). 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 dispensing justice in Delaware's juvenile court system are firmly committed to fairness and helping youth access opportunities. However, there was no shared agreement among stakeholders of what effective juvenile public defense should look like, nor a clear articulation of how strong representation for youth supports the goals of the juvenile justice system. Investigators concluded the quality of representation falls short of fulfilling the constitutional guarantees of due process for children in court. Delaware is one of a few states in the nation that imposes monetary bail on children, and one of the only states that allows for bail and detention hearings to be conducted via videoconference. And Delaware Family Courts persist in applying mandatory minimum sentences to some youth, despite research supporting developmentally informed, individualized justice for children. Serious racial inequities exist at all stages of delinquency proceedings across the state, with Black and brown children receiving harsher treatment at every decision point. Punitive practices like these make the need for zealous defenders essential. The shortcomings identified in the Assessment are not because of negligent lawyering; on the contrary, most juvenile defenders are fiercely dedicated to their clients and to ensuring the best possible case outcomes. However, the juvenile court system overall lacks an awareness of the direct and collateral harms youth experience when adjudicated delinquent - especially when children are unnecessarily processed through court as a means to access court-based interventions. Rather than serve as advocates for children's expressed interests, lawyers are encouraged to move clients quickly through adjudication with the goal of obtaining services, whether they are necessary or not. The net this perspective casts over children, and particularly children of color, results in young people being tangled deeper in court and for longer periods of time when less-restrictive alternatives are appropriate. Moreover, systemic deficiencies limit children's access to counsel and inhibit juvenile defenders' ability to advocate for dispositions that are better-suited for a child's interests and success. While there is cause for concern in Delaware's juvenile court system, the investigators also found notable strengths and promising practices that have been implemented with broad support. Building on the success of these reforms will keep the state on track to address and overcome the system's shortfalls. The Assessment's core recommendations call for collaborative action to remedy gaps in juvenile defense delivery at the state, county, and local levels. The report concludes with a set of strategies to guide stakeholders through the implementation process and at last ensure that Delaware's youth receive the constitutional protections guaranteed to them over five decades ago. Details: National Juvenile Defender Center, 2017. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 4, 2017 at: http://njdc.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Delaware-Assessment_NJDC.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://njdc.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Delaware-Assessment_NJDC.pdf Shelf Number: 146717 Keywords: Defense CounselJuvenile CourtJuvenile OffendersLegal Defense |