The Role of the Juvenile Court Judge Revisited

I N T R O D U C T I O N Nearly fifteen years ago, the Juvenile and Family Court Journal published my article, “The Juvenile Court and the Role of the Juvenile Court Judge” (hereinafter The Role). The article was both reflective of trends in American juvenile courts and aspirational, pointing in the direction that judges should be heading as they assumed their responsibilities on the juvenile court bench. The Journal has asked me to reflect on what has happened since The Role was published and has republished the most enduring section of the article, “The Role of the Juvenile Court Judge,” in this volume. In this Introduction I will address three topics: (1) Does The Role capture the special nature of the juvenile court judge’s job description? (2) Have juvenile court judges accepted this role as a model of what they should be? and (3) Has “The Role” had any influence on the work of juvenile court judges across the country? I must add one caveat. I am not an objective outsider looking at juvenile court judges and their work. I have been a juvenile court judge most of my 25 years on the bench and believe that the juvenile court judge can and should fulfill the various roles that I describe. My biases are set out more fully in the speech I gave on November 18, 2004 when I received the National Center for State Courts’ 2004 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence at the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (the speech appears on page 45). From that speech my positions regarding the juvenile court and the juvenile court judge are clear. I believe that the juvenile court is the institution that is in the best position to play a critical role in the lives of our nation’s most vulnerable children and their families. But I also believe that the juvenile court will not reach its potential without strong leadership from juvenile court judges. It is clear to me that these statements have been born out during the past fifteen years. Does The Role capture the special nature of the juvenile court judge’s job description? Indeed it does. Upon rereading and reflecting on this section, I would only make small changes in the content and one major addition. I would include a full discussion of the ethical implications of judicial leadership. Ethical issues must be addressed by every member of the judiciary, but when the role of the juvenile court judge is described, many judges fear that they will be crossing ethical boundaries when fulfilling that role. Fortunately, ethical considerations do not prevent the juvenile court judge from fulfilling the various roles I have described. Moreover, there is assistance for judges who have quesE D I T O R ' S N O T E On November 18, 2004, the National Center for State Courts awarded its prestigious William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence to Judge Leonard P. Edwards—the first time in the award’s history that this honor has gone to a juvenile court judge. The award was presented by Justice Anthony Kennedy in the Great Hall of the United States Supreme Court. Following you will find not only Judge Edwards’ inspirational acceptance speech, but also a republication of his 1992 article, “The Role of the Juvenile Court Judge.” This article was included as Chapter IV of Judge Edwards’ seminal work on “The Juvenile Court and the Role of the Juvenile Court Judge,” published in the Juvenile and Family Court Journal (Vol. 43, No. 2). We are pleased to include both pieces in this issue of the Journal with Judge Edwards’ following words of introduction.