Representation lacking for kids in juvenile court.

Shackled together in chains, children arrive in juvenile court only to routinely waive their right to an attorney. They plead guilty, just to get their cases over with, not really understanding the ramifications.

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Those kids who do talk to a lawyer often meet harried, inexperienced juvenile defenders for the first and only time in crowded courtrooms and chaotic hallways.

Some judges, assigned to juvenile court on a short-term rotation, don't really know the rules of juvenile procedure and their attitudes don't foster zealous advocacy. One juvenile court judge called pretrial motions "a waste of judicial and attorney resources."

Those were among the troubling findings of 22 Florida and national observers who last year visited juvenile courts in 15 Florida urban, suburban, and rural counties in half of the state's 20 judicial circuits. They watched court in action and interviewed judges, defense counsel, probation officers, prosecutors, and other juvenile court personnel.

It was all part of a National Juvenile Defender Center project requested by the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar, and the Florida Public Defender Association.

Details of Florida's flawed juvenile justice system and recommendations to repair the damage to children's lives are chronicled in a new report: Florida: An Assessment of Access to Counsel & Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings. (The full report is available on the Web at www.njdc.info or by calling (202) 452-0010.)

"Youth in Florida's courts, even very young children, were observed routinely waiving the constitutional right to counsel. This often occurs with a wink and a nod--or even encouragement--from judges. Judges were sometimes observed implying that waiving counsel and making an admission was a way to resolve the case quickly, get out of the courtroom, and not have to set another date so the child's parent or guardian would not need to miss work and return to court again.

"Other players in the delinquency system would echo this approach. All this was done without counsel being present or any meaningful discussion of the potential long-term disadvantages of waiving counsel taking place, while the advantages were dangled in front of the children like candy," according to the report written by Patricia Puritz, executive director of the NJDC, and Cathryn Crawford of the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law.

Carlos Martinez, chief...