Juvenile Indigent Defense

The American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center has released a series of reports that identify institutional problems that prevent juvenile defense systems from providing indigent children with adequate defense representation. The reports were done in six states: Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington. These new studies bring the number of states evaluated so far to twelve. The American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center hopes to create a nationwide evaluation to see if the indigent defense systems in place adequately protect the constitutional and statutory rights of children.

Key findings of the reports include:

• Juvenile court lawyers have excessive caseloads, preventing many from having meaningful contact with their clients, and receive inordinately low compensation, preventing them from being able to provide effective representation to those clients;
• Many youths do not have counsel at critical stages of the juvenile justice process, despite the law's clear mandate and the harmful consequences of not having a lawyer;
• Because most juvenile defense lawyers are not provided training to help identify treatments options that could serve as effective alternatives to detention, lawyers are incapable of effectively protecting their clients' rights and advocating for their treatment needs;
• Because more appropriate alternatives to detention are rarely explored, juvenile justice systems tend to rely too heavily on detention and probation;
• Juvenile detention systems are becoming dumping grounds for mentally ill children and school-related referrals;
• Post-disposition representation of adjudicated youth is virtually non-existent, with lawyers rarely having the time or resources to visit their clients in placement or follow up to ensure that court-ordered treatment has been delivered or effective;
• Defense attorneys typically have access to fewer resources, such as investigators and technology, than the prosecutors they face in court;
• Although it is common knowledge that teenage clients pose particular challenges for lawyers, most receive no training in adolescent development; and
• The failings of the juvenile justice system have a disproportionate impact on children of color and indigent youth.