CJAD 325: Week 7– Assignment: In Re Gualt
05/02/2010
This paper discusses the case "In re Gault" (1967), in which the Supreme Court examined the rights guaranteed to criminal defendants under the Constitution. The purpose was to see if those rights applied to juveniles, as well as adults. This case was tried in Arizona, and the Court began its examination by looking at the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which makes the Bill of Rights applicable to the states, and found that the laws should apply to juveniles as well as adults. The Supreme Court also examined whether Arizona's delinquency statute violated the Constitution, whether juvenile proceedings were criminal prosecutions for the purposes of the Sixth Amendment, whether juveniles had rights to the confrontation and cross-examination of witnesses, and the determination that a juvenile's rights had the same constitutional protection as do adults. In addition, I intend to answer the following questions. What makes in re Gault a classic case? How does it form a difference in our process, in relation to the juvenile justice system? Does In Re Gault have an impact on the law enforcement system, as we know it today?
The juvenile, Gerald Gault, was taken into custody for making obscene telephone calls. He was committed to the Arizona State Industrial School as a juvenile delinquent, after hearings before a juvenile court judge. His parents brought a habeas corpus action, challenging the constitutionality of Gault's commitment. The Supreme Court agreed that Gault's confinement violated the Constitution. It came to this decision by looking at the Constitution, specifically amendments V, VI, and XIV."(in re Gault.)
In the creation of law, the foundation was based on a need for structure. Our fore fathers with their ERA in mind wrote the U.S. Constitution. An open window of opportunity existed for improvement to the structure of law. The framers of the constitution vaguely created...