Law representatives from across Louisiana gathered Friday in the LSU Law Center to discuss problems in the juvenile-justice system.
“The Backdoor of the Juvenile Courts, Waivers and the Impact of Criminalization” was presented by The Louisiana Law Review, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice.
This year’s symposium discussed unfair juvenile justice laws and how to change them.
Gerald Gault, an army veteran, shared his experience through an on-stage interview with Patti Puritz of the National Juvenile Defender Center.
Gault was accused of making a lewd phone call to a neighborhood woman when he was 14, a crime he said his friend had committed using his home phone. He was sentenced to six years in a juvenile facility without counsel. Gault’s parents fought the case to the Supreme Court and won. Gault’s case set a precedent, allowing juveniles the right to counsel.
“If you ask my 10-year-old grandson what to do when a cop stops him,” Gault said. “He will respond, ‘I want my lawyer, and I want my mommy.'”
Gault shared his experiences at Fort Grant Industrial School, where he served only six months of his proposed six-year sentence. Amelia Lewis, an ACLU attorney, represented Gault’s case and took it to the Supreme Court.
“This is my life,” Gault said. “I don’t see the changes that should have come from my case. I have to do something about it.”
Neelum Arya, director of Research and Policy for the Campaign for Youth Justice in Washington, spoke at the symposium.
The Campaign for Youth Justice’s mission is to end the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating youths under the age of 18 in the adult criminal justice system. More than 12 percent of youths in juvenile facilities are sexually assaulted, and more than 20 percent of youths in adult facilities are sexually assaulted, Arya said.
“If children need to be punished, then they need to be punished,” Arya said. “But not in such a way that they are scarred for life.”
Arya went on to say while 16- to 18-year-olds may be tried like adults for serious crimes murder, they should not be placed in adult facilities.
“The juvenile justice system today is seriously lacking,” Arya said.
Contact Mandy Francois at [email protected]