In Search of Juvenile Justice

On May 15, 1967 the United States Supreme Court rendered, in In re Gault , its first decision in the area of juvenile delinquency procedure. Commentators have repeatedly construed the rulings in Gault as requiring juvenile courts to adopt new and more liberal practices. The privilege against self-incrimination, and the rights to notice of charges, counsel, confrontation, and cross-examination were heretofore primarily regarded as the cornerstones of an adversary system of justice. The extension of these rights to juvenile courts would have seemed to require an overnight transformation of the court procedures.