Schall v. Martin - Significance, Juvenile System Of Justice, Is Teenage Preventive Detention Legal?, Impact, Curfews For Juveniles

Schall v. Martin - Further Readings

Schall v. Martin - Significance

The ruling settled the dispute over whether preventive detention of juveniles, considered likely to engage in further crime prior to their trials, serves a legitimate state objective. The state successfully argued that its system of procedural protections satisfied requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. As highlighted by the dissenting opinion, the need for substantial…

Schall v. Martin - Juvenile System Of Justice

During the early period of U.S. history, courts treated juveniles accused of crimes as "little" adults. Though reformatories came into existence in the early nineteenth century, a substantially different philosophy in treating juveniles did not evolve until near the end of that century. Concepts that "childhood" was a distinctly different stage of life and that juveniles had greater receptiveness …

Schall v. Martin - Is Teenage Preventive Detention Legal?

In 1984 the Supreme Court granted certiorari to the Schall case to determine the constitutionality of juvenile preventive detention under the Due Process Clause. The Court split the question concerning detention into two parts. First, does preventive detention serve a legitimate state interest, such as protection of property or citizens' safety? Secondly, are procedural safeguards adequate to ensu…

Schall v. Martin - Impact

After Gault recognized substantial rights of juveniles in the justice system, a series of cases including Schall a juvenile's right to trial, preventive detention, and dealt with the possibility of capital punishment. The Court increasingly yielded to states in dealing with juvenile justice matters. General opinion grew through the 1980s and 1990s that the juvenile justice system, characterized by…

Schall v. Martin - Curfews For Juveniles

The effectiveness and constitutionality of curfew ordinances for juveniles are highly controversial. Cities with high juvenile crime rates considering a curfew may remain on firm constitutional ground. Dallas, Texas' curfew has become a model for other cities, reporting a 30 percent drop in violent crimes by juveniles since 1994. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the Dallas curfew ordinan…