The Children Left Behind
The Children Left Behind: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings in Louisiana (released in 2001)
This comprehensive assessment documents the lack of effective defense for youth and makes specific recommendations for statewide system reform. This report was published in 2001 in partnership with the American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center and numerous defense experts. Findings include:
- An extremely high incidence of waiver of counsel among children, many of whom waive without speaking to a lawyer or understanding the critical consequences of their decision
- An extremely high use of please to handle cases of juvenile delinquency, including those of a serious nature, and frequently without counsel
- An alarming lack of advocacy on the part of many juvenile defenders, due to crushing caseloads, lack of full-time practice, inadequate resources, lack of training and supervision, and a juvenile justice culture that presumes guilty and places little value on zealous representation
- A total lack of reliable, uniform case tracking information by the local indigent defender, in order to monitor juvenile case outcomes, provide supervision, assess needs and set priorities for ongoing defense practices
- A great disparity between the salaries and resources of juvenile prosecutors compared to juvenile public defenders
- An over-reliance on juvenile probation officers by the juvenile justice system to handle often conflicting roles, such as conducting initial interviews of youth and seeking their waiver of counsel, preparing petitions for the prosecuting attorneys, advising the court on sentencing and monitoring youth's compliance with disposition.
The Children Left Behind Annual Update (released in 2002)
An executive summary of the original 2001 report, this publication also includes a year-end status report on juvenile defense as well as a description of Louisiana's response to the juvenile indigent defense crisis. This report also includes the state's response to the crisis and includes more people's stories and experiences in Louisiana's juvenile courts.
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