ACLU and Public Defenders challenge Prosecutor loophole on Juvenile guilty pleas

Nevada's criminal laws are soon to make the national spotlight again. This time, it's how the Courts handle juvenile pleas. The ACLU and Public Defenders from Washoe and Clark county are challenging a procedural loophole for Prosecutors.

Nevada Appeal reports:

National and state groups and individuals are challenging a Nevada law that makes juveniles admit guilt to charged crimes in efforts to avoid trial as an adult - but lets prosecutors use those admissions if juveniles end up in adult court anyway. . .

The legal brief is in support of an appeal filed by two youths, identified only as William and Marques, from the Las Vegas area who were certified as adults in November, at age 17, in robbery cases. They were a year or two younger when the robberies occurred.

"Extorting an admission from juveniles for the purpose of avoiding transfer (to adult court) and then allowing the use of such admissions to support transfer and ultimately guilt at the trial stage is completely at odds with the standard of fundamental fairness required in juvenile proceedings," the brief states.

The article goes on to state:

Another group, the National Juvenile Defender Center, plans a separate document arguing that juveniles in such cases can't get proper legal representation since attorneys must advise juveniles to admit guilt to avoid adult certification.

"That's not how a productive attorney-client relationship usually goes," [according to attorney Lee Rowland of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada].

The ACLU-Juvenile Law Center brief notes that at least 19 other states have laws protecting juveniles against self-incrimination when a judge determines whether they should be tried in juvenile or adult courts.

Nice. So if you're young in Nevada, plead guilty to the crime to avoid the harsh penalty of being tried as an adult. Unless, of course, the judge decides to try you as an adult anyway. Then you're screwed because you already plead guilty. Good, old-fashioned Silver State justice.