Juveniles and the Constitution
There are countless cases involving juveniles and the Constitution. Three of the most notable of these cases are Kent v. United States, In re Gault, and In re Winship. The decisions of the aforementioned cases all played an imperative role in juvenile cases.
The case of Kent v. United States involved a sixteen-year-old juvenile by the name of Morris Kent. Kent was arrested for several charges, which included breaking into a woman’s home, robbery, and rape. Kent was on juvenile probation, so the state requested to send his trial to an adult court where he was sentenced a thirty to ninety year prison term. However, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence ruling that juveniles have a right to counsel and a hearing in any case where the juvenile judge considers transferring the case to adult court. This landmark …show more content…
The case involved fifteen-year-old Gerald Gault, who was accused of making lewd telephone calls to a neighbor. Kent was on juvenile probation at the time of his arrest. Gault’s parents were not notified at the time of his arrest, and no effort was put into contacting them to inform them at a later time. There was a series of informal hearing where no type of recording or transcript made, and the juvenile judge sentenced Gault to a detention center until he reached the age of twenty-one. Gault was not afforded the right to counsel, and his accuser was never presented for questioning, which his lawyers argued denied Gault of his due process rights. The case finally reached the Supreme Court where it was decided that juveniles were entitled to the same basic procedural safeguards as adults, which included the right to advance notice of charges, the right to counsel, the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, and the privilege against self-incrimination. The decision in this case ensured that informality would no longer be tolerated in juvenile