In a landmark 1967 case, In re Gault, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Constitution guarantees youth charged with delinquency a right to counsel. Lawyers help make sure that juvenile courts hold the right youth accountable, that any sentence meets their needs, and that sanctions are proportionate to what they have done.
Despite this clear mandate, many children outside Philadelphia appear in court without the benefit of well-resourced and well-trained legal counsel, and too many appear with no counsel at all. This is especially true in one upstate Pennsylvania county, where the right to counsel in delinquency cases has been completely ignored.
