[Peace-discuss] Youth held in Kiwane Case

[Melodye Rosales]

Hope the Kiwane Case et al investigation has applied this to their findings:



The Supreme Court ruled on the next major juvenile case, In re Winship,
in 1970 (397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068). At that time, many juvenile courts
used
“by a preponderance of evidence” as the standard for burden of proof. When
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court found that although juvenile
courts were implemented to save (rather than punish) children, they could
not
use that rationale to require a lesser burden of proof. The Court stated
that
“reasonable doubt” should be the standard of proof in all adjudicatory
hearings.
Two years following this case, the Court made its ruling retroactive,
meaning all
youth who were convicted by a preponderance of the evidence either had to be
released from custody or adjudicated again using “beyond a reasonable doubt”
as the burden of proof (Bernard, 1992). However, since juveniles had no
right to
a jury trial, the juvenile court judge alone would make the subjective
determination of whether the stronger burden of proof had been met.
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