Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292, 26 (1993)

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Cite as: 507 U. S. 292 (1993)

O'Connor, J., concurring

or an 'industrial school' for juveniles is an institution of confinement in which the child is incarcerated for a greater or lesser time. His world becomes a building with whitewashed walls, regimented routine and institutional hours. Instead of mother and father and sisters and brothers and friends and classmates, his world is peopled by guards, custodians, [and] state employees . . . ." Id., at 27 (footnote and internal quotation marks omitted).

See also In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358 (1970) (proof-beyond-reasonable-doubt standard applies to delinquency proceedings); Breed v. Jones, 421 U. S. 519 (1975) (double jeopardy protection applies to delinquency proceedings); Parham v. J. R., 442 U. S. 584 (1979) (proceedings to commit child to mental hospital must satisfy procedural due process).

Our decision in Schall v. Martin, 467 U. S. 253 (1984), makes clear that children have a protected liberty interest in "freedom from institutional restraints," id., at 265, even absent the stigma of being labeled "delinquent," see Breed, supra, at 529, or "mentally ill," see Parham, supra, at 600- 601. In Schall, we upheld a New York statute authorizing pretrial detention of dangerous juveniles, but only after analyzing the statute at length to ensure that it complied with substantive and procedural due process. We recognized that children "are assumed to be subject to the control of their parents, and if parental control falters, the State must play its part as parens patriae." 467 U. S., at 265. But this parens patriae purpose was seen simply as a plausible justification for state action implicating the child's protected liberty interest, not as a limitation on the scope of due process protection. See ibid. Significantly, Schall was essentially a facial challenge, as is this case, and New York's policy was to detain some juveniles in "open facilit[ies] in the community . . . without locks, bars, or security officers where the child receives schooling and counseling and has access to recreational facilities." Id., at 271. A

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