Legislature must rewrite entire Juvenile Code

While my students and I have worked with a good number of caring and committed judges, prosecutors and probation staff in the St. Louis region, we have also repeatedly been shocked by standard court practices – in the county and elsewhere – that work to undermine basic constitutional rights to due process, representation and zealous advocacy. 

More than this, the very structure of the system runs counter to basic constitutional separation of powers norms — where everyone but the child and her lawyer (when one is present) is part of the same team. In such a culture, it is next to impossible to meaningfully advocate for children — largely poor youth of color — who are already at risk in this community.

Further skewing the odds, misplaced funding priorities in Missouri have rendered our public defender system largely incapable of zealously defending the large number of cases coming through our juvenile courts each year. Instead, as the National Juvenile Defender Center’s 2013 Assessment of the Missouri juvenile justice system noted, representation is rationed by our over-worked public defender system.  And kids — some of the most vulnerable persons in our courts — feel this unfairness the most. 

I am hopeful this investigation – like other recent findings and reports that have been issued by DOJ, the Ferguson Commission’s working groups and others – will serve as an engine for change in the region. As with other issues, it is important for us to consider long-term goals. But it is also clear we need emergency intervention to bring some semblance of sanity to a system that, as I write this, is violating the rights of countless children of color in this community. 

The legislature must rewrite our entire Juvenile Code to bring it into compliance with modern norms. This redraft, to be meaningful, should occur along with wholesale revision of our Municipal Code to ensure both are consistent – and constitutional – when it comes to treatment of youth. An executive branch watchdog agency with true enforcement power should be created to serve as a monitor on all courts that serve kids who frequently can’t – or won’t – speak up for themselves. And we need to properly fund and support our state public defender system.

But in the meantime, the Missouri Supreme Court can take immediate action by way of its rule-making authority to require, at the very least, that all court-involved kids under the age of 18 have access to counsel. It should also appoint a Task Force of experts – including juvenile defenders and impacted youth – to review the entire system as it did with regard our Municipal Court system to help develop comprehensive plans.

While it may not have always been the case, on this eve of the anniversary of the Michael Brown Jr.’s death it appears many eyes have been opened by the powerful proclamations and protests of local youth. Formerly steadfast hearts and minds have begun to shift. And the privileged and previously unconcerned are starting to see how Missouri’s poor and minority youth have become casualties in political games of grown-ups. 

With the release of this most recent DOJ Investigation, some have wanted to focus on some past unfortunate dramas – like which lawyers and clinics have been banned from which courts and by who. But at this important moment, I mostly believe that is mostly unimportant. What is essential is focusing on a non-discriminatory and constitutional way forward for court-involved kids. 

I look forward to the possibility of St. Louis County – particularly as it gets ready to open the doors on its new multi-million dollar youth justice center – serving as a model of best practices for youth justice. And as before, the Juvenile Law and Justice Clinic at Washington University School of Law stands at the ready to provide needed quality representation and to work collaboratively with other stakeholders to rethink our state’s juvenile justice system.

Mae C. Quinn is professor of Law and director of the Juvenile Law and Justice Clinic at Washington University.