NCJ Number
76924
Date Published
1979
Length
59 pages
Annotation
A symposium presentation and subsequent discussion focus on juveniles' right to counsel in delinquency proceedings, with emphasis on three proposed sets of standards on the subject.
Abstract
The proposed standards include those of the Institute for Judicial Administration/American Bar Association Joint Commission, the National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the National Task Force to Develop Standards and Goals for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Judicial views on the right to counsel have changed from the unequivocal denial of this right in 1904 to the declaration in the Gault decision that the due process clause requires that the child and parents be notified of the child's right to be represented by counsel, few decisions since Gault have discussed the right to counsel, few decisions have addressed the role of attorneys in juvenile proceedings. The three sets of proposed standards agree on broad rights to counsel and to appointed counsel beginning at the time a juvenile is taken into custody. However, the standards disagree on whether a juvenile can waive the right to counsel. All three sets of standards agree that the counsel's main function is that of an advocate, rather than a guardian or simply amicus curiae. However, until there is substantial agreement concerning the proper role of counsel throughout the entire representation of a client in a juvenile delinquency case, there is little chance of defining when counsel is competent. The combined problems of the role and the competence of counsel in juvenile and family court matters need further consideration, and the standards represent an important first step in that direction. The discussion largely centered around the issue of the role and competence of counsel at delinquency proceedings. Footnotes are included.