Protecting America’s Children—Assessing the Promise of In Re Gault 40 Years Later

Forty years ago this May, a landmark United States Supreme Court decision declared that children in the juvenile justice system have the right to an attorney. Yet today, this promise to protect America’s youth remains unfulfilled. Many young people in the court system, particularly low-income and minority children, lack well-trained and well-resourced lawyers—and far too many receive no counsel at all. The failure to uphold the constitutional rights of children has lifelong and often tragic consequences.

OSI's U.S. Justice Fund and the National Juvenile Defender Center hosted a forum with judges, lawyers, and activists working to ensure Gault’s promise of justice for all of America’s youth. Participants included:

• Gerald Gault, the subject of the original 1967 case, who was tried at age 15 without a lawyer and received a seven-year sentence for making a prank phone call;
• Norman Dorsen, the attorney who argued the Gault case before the Supreme Court and won;
• Grace Bauer, Director of the Lake Charles Chapter of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children; her 13-year-old son was incarcerated in a maximum security facility without ever speaking to an attorney;
• David Bell, Chief Justice of the New Orleans Parish Juvenile Court;
• Robert Listenbee, Chief Juvenile Defender in Philadelphia.

Jacqueline Baillargeon, Program Director of OSI's Gideon Project, served as moderator. Antonio Maciel, Director of the U.S. Justice Fund, and Ann Beeson, incoming Director of U.S. Programs, introduced the event.