Law Commons^™

Reconceptualizing Due Process In Juvenile Justice: Contributions From Law And Social Science, Christopher Slobogin, Mark R. Fondacaro, Tricia Cross

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article challenges the accepted wisdom, at least since the Supreme Court's decision in Gault, that procedures in juvenile delinquency court should mimic the adult criminal process. The legal basis for this challenge is Gault itself, as well as the other Supreme Court cases that triggered the juvenile justice revolution of the past decades, for all of these cases relied on the due process clause, not the provisions of the Constitution that form the foundation for adult criminal procedure. That means that the central goal in juvenile justice is fundamental fairness, which does not have to be congruent with the …

Toward Fundamental Fairness In The Kangaroo Courtroom: The Due Process Case Against Statutes Presumptively Closing Juvenile Proceedings, Stephen E. Oestreicher Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Today's juvenile courtroom functions quite differently than did its 1899 Chicago ancestor. During every decade since the 1960s, the juvenile court system has undergone a number of fundamental, structural changes. The most recent of these "mega change[s]" came during the 1990s, when a number of states abandoned their existing presumptive closure statutes and mandated that juvenile delinquency proceedings be held in the open for the press and the public to see.

The policy reviews of this development have been mixed. Some commentators criticize the recent trend, asserting that open proceedings enervate the juvenile system's ultimate goal of rehabilitating wayward youths. …