Juvenile Court Case Study

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In the Constitution of the United States, each citizen is entitled to due process when their freedom is at stake. Due process was established to ensure “that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. (Gaines and Miller, 2014) The judicial system takes the civil rights of citizens quite seriously. The juvenile courts have been known to overlook the same rights of the minors in their court room, in the past. In Kent v. United States (1966), a juvenile court judge granted the state their petition to handover the trial to be heard within the adult court system. The juvenile was later sentenced to an extreme amount of jail time. “The United States Supreme Court overturned the sentence, ruling that juveniles have a right to counsel and a hearing in any instance in which the juvenile judge is considering sending the case to an adult court.” (Gaines and Miller, 2014)…show more content…
The juvenile court’s informality, lack of recording keeping, and excessive sentencing led to a further review by the United States Supreme Court. The child was sentenced to spend six years at a school, until he reached the age of 21. Under the review of the Supreme Court, it was determined that the child should have been given due process since his freedom was at stake in this case. “During these hearings, no records were kept, Gault was not afforded the right to counsel, and the complaining witness was never made available for questioning.” (Gaines and Miller,

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