Defender Track – Gault at 40: Looking Back and Moving Forward

When In re Gault was handed down on May 15, 1967, it brought sweeping changes to the way juvenile courts in America should operate. The Supreme Court proclaimed that the liberty of a child is entitled to constitutional protection and that the state is required to observe the requirements of due process before it could take away that liberty. Like the promise of Gideon, however, the Supreme Court’s mandate in Gault has never been fully realized and children are still vulnerable to second-class justice in our nation’s courtrooms.

Participants at this year’s Defender track will wrestle with ways to make Gault meaningful and apply some of the lessons of Gault’s legacy to today’s practice.