The World Bank Legal Review is a publication for policy makers and their advisers, attorneys, and other professionals engaged in the field of international development. It offers a combination of legal scholarship, lessons from experience, legal developments, and recent research on the many ways in which the application of the law and the improvement of justice systems promote poverty reduction, economic development, and the rule of law. In keeping with the theme of the World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development, and following the success of the World Bank Group’s Legal Forum on “Law, Equity, and Development” in December 2005, volume 2 of The World Bank Legal Review focuses on issues of equity and development. The volume draws together some of the key ideas of the Legal Forum, including articles by many of its distinguished participants, and explores the role of equity in the development process, highlighting how legal and regulatory frameworks and equitable justice systems can do much to level the playing field in the political, economic, and sociocultural domains, as well as how they can reinforce existing inequalities. Consistent with the interdisciplinary nature of this endeavour, Law, Equity and Development contains work by academics and practitioners in law, criminal justice, economics, human rights, social development, cultural studies, and anthropology.

Youth violence: Sources and solutions in South Africa thoroughly and carefully reviews the evidence for risk and protective factors that influence the likelihood of young people acting aggressively. Layers of understanding are built by viewing the problem from a multitude of perspectives, including the current situation in which South African youth are growing up, perspectives from developmental psychology, the influences of race, class and gender, and of the media. The book then reviews the evidence for effective interventions in the contexts of young people’s lives – their homes, their schools, their leisure activities, with gangs, in the criminal justice system, in cities and neighbourhoods, and with sexual offenders. In doing so, thoughtful suggestions are made for keeping an evidence-based perspective while (necessarily) adapting interventions for developing world contexts, such as South Africa. Youth violence in South Africa: Sources and solutions is a valuable addition to the library of anyone who has ever wondered about youth violence, or wanted to do something about it.

Innovative Interventions in Child and Adolescent Mental Health is a unique composite of the literature on various innovative interventions for children and adolescents, and provides a developmental and neurobiological rationale for utilizing innovative interventions with this population. Based on the latest research, this book emphasizes that children and adolescents need more than just talk therapy. These innovative interventions can be applied in a variety of practice settings including schools, juvenile justice, community-based counseling centers, and residential treatment. This book bridges the gap between theory and practice, and provides a historical, theoretical, and research-based rationale, as well as a helpful case study, for each type of intervention being discussed.

This publication is based on a project that sought to document current projects implementing restorative justice in South Africa. But what concrete progress has been made? Who is delivering direct restorative justice services to victims and offenders? What are the scope and quality of these services?

Youth Development in South Africa: Harnessing the Demographic Dividend is a compelling snapshot of thirty years of South Africa’s democratic dispensation and what it has meant for the youth of the country, as well as how its demographic dividend can be harnessed for a fairer society in the future.