McKeiver v. Pennsylvania

McKeiver v. Pennsylvania
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 10, 1970 Decided June 21, 1971
Full case name	McKeiver v. Pennsylvania
Holding
A trial by jury is not constitutionally required in the adjudicative phase of a state juvenile court delinquency proceeding.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices Hugo Black · William O. Douglas John M. Harlan II · William J. Brennan, Jr Potter Stewart · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Case opinions
Plurality	Blackmun, joined by Burger, Stewart, White
Concurrence	Harlan
Concur/dissent	Brennan
Dissent	Douglas, joined by Black, Marshall

McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 403 U.S. 528 (1971), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court. The Court held that juveniles in juvenile criminal proceedings were not entitled to a jury trial by the Sixth or Fourteenth Amendments. The Court's plurality opinion left the precise reasoning for the decision unclear^[1].

Although the right to a jury trial is not guaranteed by the U.S Constitution in these cases, states may, and some do, employ jury trials in juvenile proceedings if they wish to do so. Kansas is the first State in the Country to articulate that the right should be extended to juveniles as a matter of right under its State Constitution.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 403

References

1. ^ See In re L.M., 2008 Kan. LEXIS 328 (Kan. June 20, 2008) (briefs for the case can be viewed at http://www.theshipps.com/inrelm)