A painful view of the current state of juvenile justice in the United States is presented in this volume which asks whether the 'children's court' has outlived its usefulness. As pressure builds to handle more children in adult courts and to consign them to adult prisons, the authors explore alternatives to the custodial treatment of juveniles and suggest how the juvenile justice system can, and should, be reformed.

Juvenile justice policies have historically been built on a foundation of myths and misconceptions. Fear of young, drug-addled superpredators, concerns about immigrants and gangs, claims of gender biases, and race hostilities have influenced the public′s views and, consequently, the evolution of juvenile justice. These myths have repeatedly confused the process of rational policy development for the juvenile justice system. Juvenile Justice: Redeeming Our Children debunks myths about juvenile justice in order to achieve an ideal system that would protect vulnerable children and help build safer communities. Author Barry Krisberg assembles broad and up-to-date research, statistical data, and theories on the U.S. juvenile justice system to encourage effective responses to youth crime. This text gives a historical context to the ongoing quest for the juvenile justice ideal and examines how the current system of laws, policies, and practices came into place.Juvenile Justice reviews the best research-based knowledge on what works and what does not work in the current system. The book also examines failed juvenile justice policies and applies high standards of scientific evidence to seek new resolutions. This text helps students embrace the value of redemptive justice and serves as a springboard for the current generation to implement sounder social policies. Juvenile Justice is an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying juvenile justice in Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Sociology. The book is also an excellent supplemental text for juvenile delinquency courses. About the AuthorBarry Krisberg, PhD has been President of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) since 1983. Dr. Krisberg received both his master′s degree in Criminology and his doctorate in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Hawaii and has held previous faculty positions at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Minnesota. Dr. Krisberg was appointed by the legislature to serve on the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Inmate Population Management. He has several books and articles to his credit, is known nationally for his research and expertise on juvenile justice issues, and is called upon as a resource for professionals and the media.

This book is an examination of recent developments in the areas of youth justice and child protection. It investigates how well young people and the societies in which they live are served by judicial and service systems. Consideration is given to those in care - in young offenders' institutions, foster families and residential homes - as well as those living with their families. A broad range of international experts discuss the largely segregated youth justice and children's legal and service systems in England and Wales, other parts of Western Europe and the US, and compare these with Scotland's integrated system. The implications of these arrangements are considered for the rights of children and parents on the one hand and society on the other. The contributors also provide insights into the rationale for current and proposed policies, as well as the efficacy of different systems. This book will be an important reference for policy-makers, social workers, lawyers, magistrates and equivalent decision makers, health professionals, carers, and all those working in youth justice and child protection. It is highly relevant for academics and students interested in children, citizenship, youth crime, child welfare and state-family relations.

Traces the progress toward resolving critical juvenile justice and delinquency issues, and to provide cutting-edge intervention strategies to effectively rehabilitate juvenile offenders and prevent delinquency. The 21 chapters in this book are divided into four sections. Part I provides an overview of juvenile delinquency and the juvenile justice system. In this section, we examine historical, political, legal, and arrest delinquency trends and consider comprehensive community planning as one strategy for improving the juvenile justice system. Part II explores early crime prevention strategies, effective programs to reduce antisocial behavior and school bullying, and the powerful relationship between school performance and juvenile delinquency. Part III examines and critiques a range of developmental, familial, and sociological theories that are commonly used to explain and understand juvenile delinquency. Finally, in Part IV, we examine a range of juvenile justice treatment and policy alternatives, including mental health screening and assessment, suicide prevention, evidence-based intervention models, police responses and strategies to delinquency, drug and mental health courts, therapeutic jurisprudence, restorative justice, female delinquency, and community-based after-care.

Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

Several million reported and unreported delinquent acts take place each year. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, juvenile delinquency, acting-out and oppositional behavior, illegal drugs, guns, and youth violence are pervasive throughout American society. Juvenile Justice Sourcebook is the first comprehensive volume devoted exclusively to the biopsychosocial assessment, police and juvenile court processing, and institutional and community-based treatment and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. The overriding objective of this sourcebook is to trace the tremendous progress achieved toward resolving juvenile justice issues, dilemmas, and controversies, while providing futuristic visions for the juvenile justice field. Each chapter, authored by preeminent expert practitioners and researchers, explores topics ranging from innovative counseling and multisystemic programs, to restorative justice, to rehabilitation programs such as aggression replacement training, wilderness programs, family treatment, substance abuse treatment, restitution, and aftercare. This volume, grounded in history and exhaustive research, presents the latest evidence-based policies, programs, and innovative treatment alternatives. Examining the entire juvenile justice system, including juvenile law, policies, practices, and research, the Juvenile Justice Sourcebook will be invaluable to all juvenile justice practitioners, policy analysts, researchers, and students.