Juvenile Justice System Essay

Juvenile justice is something that our country has been dealing with for a very long time, since the first juvenile court in 1899. There is something that goes along with juvenile justice and that is dissenting justices. What that means is an opinion in a legal case written by one or more judges expressing disagreement. Before the first juvenile court, a juvenile delinquency had to be processed through the adult justice system. This system gave youths much more harsh penalties. Separate juvenile courts started appearing in every state by 1945.
In 1966, a young boy named Gerald Gault was taken into custody for making a telephone call that was obscene. Gerald Gault was 15 years old and had previously been on probation. When Gault was arrested, his parents happened to be at work and the police did not leave any notice to them. Gault was then held before a juvenile court and was further admitted to the State Industrial School until he was 21 years old. The disagreements between the judges were if the procedures that were used to commit Gault were legitimate under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
This decision was made by Judge Mcghee and was later found to be wrongly decided. The Court found Gault’s case met none of the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. These requirements include notification of both the parents and the child the juveniles opportunity for confrontation and cross-examination during hearings, safeguard against self-incrimination, and adequate notice of charges. This situation is sort of a complicated one, even though Judge Mcghee processed Gault wrongly, there was a petition filed with the court on the hearing day. This petition was not served to the gaults, in fact none of the family saw the petition until the habeas corpus hearing about a month later. The petition did not make much sense, it made no reference to factual basis for the judicial action. The petition only stated that Gault was a “minor under the age of 18 and required protection from this honorable court and that Gault was a delinquent”. The petition called for a hearing and order determining the custody and care of Gault. On June 9, Gerald, and his mother and older brother and the probation officer who filed the petition appeared before the Juvenile Judge in chambers. At the habeas corpus hearing, Judge McGhee was cross-examined as to the basis for his actions. He testified that he took into consideration that Gerald was on probation. He was also asked under what section of the code did you find Gerald a delinquent. The disagreement here was that the superior court disagreed with Judge McGhee in which to why he believed Gerald was a delinquent. I think I would have definitely strayed away to what Judge McGhee had decided. Of course back then, Arizona’s Criminal Code dealt with a lot of judgment and while McGhee’s decision can be backed up by his reasonings, the juvenile court still failed to comply with the constitution. Considering the issues I do not side with Judge McGhee and after researching this case am very glad the changes that the Supreme Court of Arizona made.