Gonsalves v. Devine

On March 26, 1970, Frank Gonsalves, Jr., then a minor of 16 years, appeared in the Family Court to answer a petition charging him with making “a physical assault on [a] teacher at Central Junior High School.” A Family Court justice found him to be a wayward child and ordered him committed to the custody of the Rhode Island Training School until further order of the court. Gonsalves thereupon petitioned this court for a writ of habeas corpus alleging that his constitutional rights had been violated in the proceedings which resulted in his detention at the training school. We articulated that…