Virtual Hearings
The Gault Center released an update on the state of youth defense in Kansas, which centers the perspectives and experiences of young people impacted by the juvenile legal system, through a collaborative effort with Progeny, a youth-adult partnership in Kansas, TerraLuna Collaborative, a research consulting group, and Mulberry Art Gallery, which focuses on supporting emerging…
The Oregon Court of Appeals held that the court must provide constitutionally adequate notice to a young person of a requirement to appear in person rather than remotely before making a finding of “failure to appear”. The court stated in relevant part: “Fundamental principles of due process require that an individual be provided with notice…
On May 5, 2021, NJDC presented at an Illinois Summit about our report, Due Process in the Time of COVID. The presentation may be useful to other jurisdictions as they consider continuing to use technology to hold court hearings virtually as the pandemic wanes.
Guidance for juvenile courts and a checklist on remote hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, juvenile courts across the country have adopted video and teleconferencing to conduct virtual hearings. Although initially embraced as an emergency measure, virtual proceedings continue to be utilized even as jurisdictions increasingly lift restrictions on in-person hearings. This new “hybrid” model is being heralded as a groundbreaking way to…
As a general principle and under normal circumstances, the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) strongly opposes the use of remote hearings in juvenile delinquency proceedings. Remote hearings present serious due process concerns, as they create insurmountable barriers to effective assistance of counsel, harm attorney-client relationships and confidentiality, and lead to worse outcomes for youth. However,…
The Court considers a question of first impression — whether a criminal defendant must be provided in-person interpreting services, rather than video remote interpreting (VRI) services, at his jury trial.
From the introduction: “This report summarizes changes in youth incarceration following the onset of COVID-19, the key factors that drove and supported Utah’s shift away from incarceration, and the work that the jurisdiction still must do to sustain and build on these early successes.”
