A Call for Justice in Juvenile Indigent Defense

Dear Attorney General Holder:

Young people across this country need you to take strong action to improve the delivery of legal services to children who come into contact with the juvenile delinquency system.

As the 50th anniversary of the seminal United States Supreme Court case In re Gault fast approaches, juvenile indigent defense systems across this nation remain under-developed, under-resourced, and fundamentally unfair to the children they are designed to serve. Although Gault extended due process rights to juveniles in delinquency proceedings and acknowledged the high stakes and collateral consequences associated with a juvenile court adjudication, the promises of Gault and due process are merely illusory for far too many youth. The juvenile defense field is tainted by a history of neglect and disregard of the role of the juvenile defender in the delinquency process. Wrought with systemic barriers inhibiting access to counsel, the harm associated with juvenile court involvement continues to grow exponentially.

An alarming number of youth appear in court unrepresented, and youth are entering plea agreements and waiving counsel at an extremely high rate. On the front end, most states fail to appoint counsel early enough to ensure meaningful client assistance, and on the back end, a disturbing number of youth do not have access to counsel during the post-disposition phase, leaving critical legal needs unmet. Very few states deem children truly indigent, and youth and families are often saddled with costly fees, fines, surcharges, and other expenses that make representation prohibitive and can lead to future court involvement or incarceration for failure to pay. Many juvenile defenders are overburdened with heavy caseloads and work within offices that have extremely limited resources, restricting access to investigators, social workers, and even the most basic tools of legal practice such as LexisNexis or Westlaw. Nearly 20 years ago, these and other horrific systemic deficiencies were documented in A Call for Justice—a national assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation in delinquency proceedings. The National Juvenile Defender Center’s (NJDC) subsequent assessments of 21 state juvenile indigent defense systems confirm these unsettling problems and demonstrate that there is still much work to do.

Recognizing the dire need to overhaul juvenile indigent defense systems and advance reform nationally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) established the Juvenile Indigent Defense Special Initiative—a collaborative project between NJDC and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to create a roadmap to fully develop the field. With this charge, NJDC intensely engaged juvenile defense experts and stakeholders across the country arming OJJDP and DOJ with substantive information and recommendations to lift juvenile defense practice. Now it is time to act.

We, the undersigned, call upon you to:

Promote Specialization in Juvenile Defense Practice
The failure to recognize juvenile defense as a highly specialized practice has resulted in inadequate representation. Juvenile defense requires a unique skill set and knowledge base that is considerably different and broader than what is needed for adult criminal defense. The practice is equally as intellectually challenging and akin to appellate or capital work. Establishing training programs and promulgating standards that are specific to juvenile defense and incorporate adolescent development, such as the Juvenile Training Immersion Program (JTIP) and the National Juvenile Defense Standards, is imperative to promote specialization and regulate the practice.

Establish Solid Infrastructure to Deliver High Quality Juvenile Defense
A system is only as strong as its foundation. As it stands, there is little to no infrastructure in place to support high quality juvenile defense practice. However, the array of juvenile indigent defense delivery systems that currently exist across the country present vast opportunities for reform and innovation. High quality systems will necessarily be structured differently, but each must provide: (1) a comprehensive scope of representation, including appointment beginning no later than the first court appearance and continuing until the client is discharged from the system; (2) intentional leadership such as juvenile chiefs; (3) a commitment to specialization that is rooted in sound developmental practices; (4) access to high quality training and standards that guide and uniform practice; and (5) specialized units within the practice to handle complex juvenile defense issues, such as appeals, post-disposition advocacy, sex offenses, and juvenile transfer to adult court. Without the building blocks of a well-functioning juvenile indigent defense system that embraces the Ten Core Principles for Providing Quality Delinquency Representation Through Public Defense Delivery Systems, it is exceedingly difficult to ensure due process in juvenile court.

Resource the Juvenile Defense Field to Support Widespread Innovation
Advancing and sustaining meaningful juvenile defense reform requires resources. The juvenile defense community is ripe with ideas to ensure access to counsel, enhance juvenile defense practice, and expand the capacity of juvenile defenders to provide high quality representation to youth. It is imperative to resource this work at the federal, state, and local levels and invest in widespread innovation across all of the 50 states and territories to advance reform. In spite of the lack of resources and the daily challenges facing front-line juvenile defenders, the juvenile defense community works tirelessly to innovate and zealously advocate for policy and practice reforms to uphold Gault. The juvenile defense community has the expertise and talent to advance reform, and has demonstrated readiness to take on this important work; however, we cannot tackle this we...