In re Gault at 40

Forty years ago today, Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas announced a 7-2 decision that has been called the Magna Carta or the Bill of Rights for juveniles. In re Gault established basic rights for juveniles accused of crime, such as the right to counsel, the right to confront witnesses, and the right against forced self-incrimination. "Under our Constitution, the condition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court," Fortas wrote.

Arizonan Gerald Gault, 15 at the time, was accused of making a prank lewd phone call to a neighbor. Police took him in and he was jailed for a week before he could even see his parents. In a hasty hearing, a judge committed him to the State Industrial School until age 21, for a "crime" that would have exposed an adult to a $50 fine or two months in prison. In an emotional appearance earlier this month hosted by the Open Society Institute in New York, Gault said he was not even allowed to kiss his mother goodbye before being sent off to the institution. At the New York event Gault, who has had a successful career in the military and as a computer and heavy equipment engineer, met for the first time Norman Dorsen, who argued his case before the high court.

The 1967 decision triggered dramatic changes in the juvenile justice system, though the National Juvenile Defender Center, in marking the anniversary, reports that "the right to counsel in delinquency proceedings has yet to be fully realized. Many children still appear in court without meaningful access to well-resourced, well-trained legal counsel." The U.S. Senate on May 11 passed a resolution celebrating the anniversary, but also noting the "modern day disparities that remain for children after the Gault decision."