The Gault Center Amicus Brief, State v. D.T.

The Gault Center submitted an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Ohio on a case involving a young person’s right to appeal a competence and transfer determination in juvenile court after entering a guilty plea in adult court. Outlining procedural justice arguments and the constitutional right to a competency and transfer hearing, the brief argues that young people must retain their right to challenge systemic violations of their core constitutional rights in juvenile court. The brief also analyzes the county’s juvenile court system based on the National Youth Defense System Standards and finds that youth in Cuyahoga County have been “routinely processed in a system with structural deficiencies that distort due process and frustrate its core principles of fairness”—emphasizing the critical need to preserve the right to appeal as a mechanism of accountability. This brief is an example of ways youth defenders may challenge the everyday systemic injustices youth face in juvenile court using the System Standards as a framework.