Gault Court Case Summary

In re Gault was a milestone United States Supreme Court case that gave juveniles the “right to counsel when facing the prospect of institutionalization” and other due process rights, post arrest (Elrod & Ryder, 2014, p. 342). Fifteen year old Gerald Gault was arrested for making an offensive and lewd phone call to his neighbor, Ora Cook. Gault and his friend, Ronald Lewis were arrested after Cook called and filed a police report about the phone call. Gault was already in the juvenile justice system and on probation for being in the presence of a theft of a woman’s purse. Gault’s parents were at work at the time of the arrest and they were never notified that their son had been taken into custody and was being held at the juvenile detention facility. …show more content…
A petition was filed against Gault by the arresting office the day of his hearing, but the “petition was not served on Gault or his parents”, and was not seen until sometime later (US Courts, n.d.). During Gault’s hearings, Mrs. Cook was never present and there were never anyone sworn in prior to their testimony. On the final hearing, the probation officer filed a formal charge of a lewd phone call. The judge reviewed the charge and sentenced Gault to a juvenile detention facility until the age of 21. This was an extreme sentence because the same sentence for an adult who committed the same crime was “a maximum sentence of a $50 fine and two months in jail” (US Courts,

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