McKeiver v. Pennsylvania

McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 403 U.S. 528 (1971), is 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.^[1] The Court's plurality opinion left the precise reasoning for the decision unclear.^[2]

McKeiver v. Pennsylvania
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 10, 1970 Decided June 21, 1971
Full case name	McKeiver et al. v. Pennsylvania
Citations	403 U.S. 528 (more) 91 S. Ct. 1976; 29 L. Ed. 2d 647; 1971 U.S. LEXIS 26
Case history
Prior	Terry Appeal, 438 Pa. 339, 265 A.2d 350 (1970); probable jurisdiction noted, 399 U.S. 925 (1970); In re Burrus, 275 N.C. 517, 169 S.E.2d 879 (1969); cert. granted, 397 U.S. 1036 (1970).
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	White
Concurrence	Harlan (in the judgment)
Concur/dissent	Brennan
Dissent	Douglas, joined by Black, Marshall

Background

Joseph McKeiver and Edward Terry were teenagers charged with acts of robbery, theft, assault, and escape. Both were denied a request for a jury trial at the Juvenile Court of Philadelphia. A state Superior Court affirmed the order and, after combining their separate cases into one case, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the decision stating that there is no constitutional right to a jury trial for juveniles. In similar cases, the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of North Carolina both affirmed the lower court's decision, finding no constitutional requirement for a jury trial for juvenile defendants.^[3]

Decision of the U.S. Supreme Court

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 U.S. to articulate that the right should be extended to juveniles under its state constitution.^[1]

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 403