Juvenile Competency Law and Remediation Programming: Santa Clara County’s Experience Replicating the Virginia Model
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52935/18.1013.01Abstract
Due process protections were first guaranteed for juveniles in 1967 with the Supreme Court Decision In re Gault. Juvenile competency law, one aspect of due process, has been adopted in only 21 states. In 2009, Santa Clara County, California, embarked on the journey of adopting juvenile competency legislation and programming, replicating a well-established juvenile
remediation model formed in Virginia in 1999. This journey provides a platform for reflecting on some of the service delivery issues that are embedded first in establishing a remediation program for juveniles, and secondly, in attempting to transfer a model program from one state with a comprehensive set of laws to a second state with a less comprehensive set of laws regarding juvenile competency. This article provides a historical and procedural review of juvenile competency law and programming, and concludes by presenting Santa Clara County’s journey of challenges, triumphs, and lessons learned, with the goal of offering guidance to other states contemplating adoption of critical protections for their juvenile defendants.
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