The Juvenile Justice Coalition in partnership with the American Bar Association’s National Juvenile Defender Center and the Central Juvenile Defender Center (through the Children’s Law Center, Inc. in Covington, Kentucky) are conducting an assessment of the indigent juvenile justice defense system through a comprehensive methodology using surveying of judges and defenders, interviews with juveniles in correctional facilities, data compilation from existing juvenile justice systems’ data bases and site visits to a sampling of juvenile courts throughout the state.

This effort is part of a nationwide project to improve the access to counsel and quality of legal representation that children receive in the juvenile justice system. It builds on the national assessment conducted by the American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center’s study, reported in A Call for Justice: an Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings. While this report was enthusiastically received by judges and lawyers across the country, it was suggested that state-based assessments were needed that were useful and practical on the state and local levels. It is hoped that the Ohio assessment will stimulate discussion about the ways in which counsel is provided to indigent children and will provide insight into how more and more effective representation can be provided to Ohio’s children.

The one year study began in June 2002. It is supported by the Ohio State Bar Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, the Columbus Bar Foundation and the Cincinnati Bar Foundation. The steering committee overseeing the project is composed of Kim Brooks, Director of the Central Juvenile Defender Center, Jelpi Picou, ABA National Juvenile Defender Center, Jeff Liston, attorney, Donna Hamparian, President, Juvenile Justice Coalition, Sharon Weitzenhof, Director, Juvenile Justice Coalition, and Darlene Kamine, Adjunct Professor of Juvenile Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law.

A final report on the Ohio assessment will be completed in June 2003 and will be widely disseminated. The data collected will offer an objective basis for understanding the weaknesses as well as the best practices in Ohio’s juvenile defender system. The assessment will provide a basis for planning and implementing reforms to ensure effective assistance of counsel and to promote justice for all of Ohio’s children.

The constitutional right to counsel for youth in the juvenile justice system has long been recognized by the United States Supreme Court since its decision in 1967 in In re Gault. In the recent reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, Congress continued "effective counsel to juveniles" as one of its focus areas. However, concerns have been consistently been expressed by researchers, advocates and others about the difficulties faced by children in obtaining access to counsel and the quality of that representation.

Ohio’s public defender system is largely localized with varying levels of access to counsel - public defender offices, appointed counsel and private counsel, for example, with inconsistency in the quality of training, purpose of representation and likelihood of representation. An assessment provides the mechanism to examine the defense system structure, weaknesses, strengths, inconsistencies and best practices throughout the state.

The American Bar Association National Juvenile Defender Center has established a protocol which has been used (in several states) to conduct indigent juvenile defense assessments and which can be easily adapted for Ohio. The research includes the following components:

Surveys of juvenile defenders throughout the state, as well as attorneys under contract through the public defender system;

Surveys of juvenile court judges and magistrates to collect information regarding local court structure and resources, caseloads, experience and training, access to counsel in various juvenile proceedings and aspects of representation that reflect upon quality;

Interviews with a sampling of juveniles in correctional facilities, including juveniles in adult prison who were convicted as adults;

Site visits to a sampling of juvenile courts to interview judges, magistrates, DYS workers, detention center staff, probation staff, prosecutors, defense counsels, and other key stakeholders.

Existing data will be reviewed. These data include state demographics, census data, court and DYS information and state public defender information.

Research questions to be addressed will include:

What percentage of juveniles in juvenile court hearings are represented by counsel?

To what extent are juveniles represented by counsel at detention hearings?

What are the average caseloads of juveniles of public defender offices?

To what extent is there post-dispositional representation of juvenile offenders?

How much training have lawyers representing juveniles had?

To what extent are juveniles sentenced to detention represented by counsel?

Are minority youth less likely to be represented by counsel that non-minority youth?

For further information, please contact the project coordinator, Sharon Weitzenhof, at 330-666-8596 or by e-mail at sweitzenho@aol.com.

Submitted by Donna Hamparian, President, Juvenile Justice Coalition

Copyright © 2001,2006 Juvenile Justice Coalition