Cynthia H. Roberts
Should teenagers have the same rights as adults under the Constitution? Several cases have dealt with this question. The answer is not always yes and the court has said, in fact, that in certain instances teenagers can be treated differently.
In this section, we will discuss cases affecting teenagers. These cases can form the basis for classroom debates or in preparation for state debate competition. The cases discussed relate to the question of whether or not teenagers are entitled to the same protection under the law as adults.
The first section deals with cases relating to the 1st amendment rights of teenagers. The second section deals with Supreme Court rulings regarding the disciplining of teenagers.
Section 1 Supreme Court cases affecting the procedural protection of teenagers under the Constitution.
In Re Gault Minors’ Rights
WAS IT FAIR? In 1964, in Globe, Arizona, 15-year-old Gerald Gault was arrested with a friend and charged with making dirty remarks over the telephone to a woman. Gerald was in police custody for 12 hours before his parents found out where he was. They were not told what the charges were against him.
Police kept Gerald in the Gila County Detention home for a week before he was given a hearing. The woman who made the complaint against him did not testify or even come to court. No record was kept of the proceedings.
A second hearing was held for the judge to announce his decision. He ordered Gerald to stay in the State Industrial School until he was 21 years old—or until officials there decided he could be release to his parents again.
Gerald’s parents, Paul and Marjorie Gault, could hardly believe their ears. The Gaults had only $100, and neither of them had finished high school. But they believed their son had been mistreated and they were determined to fight his case.
When they found an attorney, he appealed their case all the way to the U.S.Supreme Court. In 1967—three years after Gerald was arrested—the court overturned Gerald’s conviction. Its decision affects the way all juveniles are treated in court today.
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Student Censorship
The Hazelwood vs. Kuhtmgtgg case deals with the First Amendment rights of students to free expression. The controversy began in the Spring of 1983 when Robert E. Reynolds, the principal of Hazelwood East High School, refused to permit the publication of two articles in the Spectrum, a school newspaper.
Principal Reynolds said he deleted the two articles dealing with divorce and teenage pregnancy because they described families and students in such a way that even though their names were not mentioned it was clear the articles were going to tread on the rights of privacy of students and their parents.‘ School officials further said that the newspaper was an extension of classroom instruction and did not enjoy first Amendment protection.
A district court judge agreed with the school board’s lawyer who said that schools would be in trouble if people could change curriculum at the drop of a lawsuit. A court of appeals disagreed, however, and by a 2-1 decision overturned the judge’s decision saying the Hazelwood’s Spectrum was, in fact, ‘a public forum.‘
When the case finally reached the Supreme Court on January 13, 1988, the court ruled 5-3 that school officials have broad power to censor school news papers, plays and other ‘school sponsored expressive activities.‘