BUT I DIDN'T DO IT: PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF JUVENILES DURING INTERROGATION

BUT I DIDN'T DO IT: PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF JUVENILES DURING INTERROGATION: The juvenile court system is based on the premise that a juvenile is different physically, mentally, and intellectually from an adult.1 In the 1966 case In re Gault, the bedrock upon which modern juvenile law is based, the United States Supreme Court commented:
[i]f counsel was not present for some permissible reason when an admission was obtained, the greatest care must be taken to assure that the admission was voluntary, in the sense not only that it was not coerced or suggested, but also that it [*PG356]was not the product of ignorance of rights or of adolescent fantasy, fright or despair.2?