[Missouri] St. Louis County Family Court: Settlement Agreement

On December 14, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice entered into a settlement agreement with the St. Louis County Family Court to remedy constitutional violations. The settlement agreement covers policies and practices to ensure the due process and equal protection rights of all youth are upheld. This includes early appointment of youth defense counsel, prohibition of police interrogations in detention facilities without counsel present, timely probable cause hearings at detention, developmentally appropriate plea colloquies to ensure understanding, and data collection and reporting requirements to track racial disparities.

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File Type: pdf

Categories: Policy Tool, Resource Library

Tags: 14th Amendment, 5th Amendment, Access to Counsel, Adolescent Development, Black Youth, Conflicts of Interest, Data Collection and Analysis, Detention, Diversion, DOJ, DOJ Action on Juvenile Legal Systems, Due Process, Equal Protection, Interrogation & Statements, Language, Miranda, Pleas, Post-Disposition, Probable Cause, Quality of Representation, Racial and Ethnic Disparities, Racial Justice, Separation of Powers, Specialization, Transfer or Bindover or Certification, Voluntariness, Youth Defense Systems