Jefferson and Washington monuments

In Re Gault: “Constitutional Domestication” of the Juvenile Justice System

Jamison Koehler Criminal Procedure, Juveniles, Opinions/Cases

There are only a small number of criminal cases that all lawyers, even those who don’t practice criminal law, seem to know.  Although Miranda v. Arizona is probably the most famous, there is also Gideon v. Wainwright (right to counsel), Wong Sun v. United States (suppression of illegally obtained evidence), Crawford v. Washington (right to confrontation), and In Re Winship …

American flag

On The Terminology and Fiction of Juvenile Justice

Jamison Koehler Juveniles

As a public defender in Philadelphia, I did a brief stint in the Juvenile Division representing young people accused of committing a crime. People told me before I started the rotation that I would either love working with juveniles or hate it; there didn’t seem to be any in-between. I found myself in the “love-it” category. Although I would have …

U.S. Capitol building

Juvenile Court Forever

Jamison Koehler Juveniles

You watch him go.  You realize that, from his perspective, the future is nothing more than a quick visit with the judge, a bologna sandwich and coke for lunch, and then a trip back to the detention center to gather his things.  So yes, you think again, this time with more certainty, it will be for forever.