Case Close-ups In re Gault 387 U. S. 1 (1967) subject areas

387 U.S. 1

(1967)
SUBJECT AREAS:

Juvenile Court Due Process

Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Protections

Right Against Self-Incrimination

Right to Timely, Written Notice of the Charges and Proceedings

Sixth Amendment

Rights of Confrontation and Cross-Examination

Right to Counsel

In 1964, Fifteen-year-old Gerald Gault was adjudicated a delinquent by an Arizona Juvenile Court for allegedly making an obscene phone call with another juvenile to a neighbor. Gault was committed to a state juvenile facility for detention until he reached adulthood. In the juvenile proceedings: Gault was not represented by counsel; his parents and he were not provided written notice of hearings; the juvenile petition did not specify what he was alleged to have done wrong; the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses was not provided, he was denied the privilege against self-incrimination; and no transcripts of any of the proceedings were made.

On appeal of the dismissal of his Writ of Habeas Corpus by the Arizona Courts, in 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that although the juvenile courts were originally set up to benefit children by taking their cases out of the purview of criminal courts, the reality was that the informality and paternalism of these proceedings and their lack of procedural regularity led to situations where juveniles were denied the fundamental fairness guaranteed to adults. The Court determined that because delinquency adjudications may lead to commitment to state institutions, with a resulting loss of liberty, due process protections must be applied to those proceedings.