8.1 Introduction

• Library: Juvenile Law and Practice in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2018 Ed.)

8.1 INTRODUCTION

The adjudicatory hearing is the stage of the juvenile court process that most resembles the fact-finding phase, or trial, in other legal proceedings. It is also the stage of delinquency cases that has most attracted the attention of the United States Supreme Court. Indeed, in In re Gault, ¹ the Court limited the applicability of the due process rights it defined to those "proceedings to determine delinquency which may result in commitment to an institution in which the juvenile's freedom...