The court case that changed juvenile justice

With the growth and development of the Juvenile justice system many people began to wonder just what rights juveniles had when it came to the criminal court system. Did juvenile have a right to a trial by jury just like their adult counterparts had? if so did they have the same right to counsel as adults to help in try to prove their innocence? on the morning of June 8th 1964 events occured which began the process of changing the juvenile justice system forever.

On the morning of June 8, 1964 Arizona teenager fifteen year old Gerald Gault was taken into cusudy without notification of his parents after a neighbor complained of receiving a lewd phone call. Without prior notificaton of his charges the teen was subsiquently tried and convicted in juvenile court and sentenced to time in a state industrial school.

Gault parents immediately filed a series of appeals which ended up in the case going before the supreme court.

On May 15, 1967 by a vote of 8-1 the Supreme Court of the United States found that the juveniles detention was a violation of his 14th amendment rights due to lack of formal counsel and lack of notice of charges.

This landmark case began the wheels of the Juvenile Justice system to ensure that even juveniles had a fair chance of defending themselves before charges in court.