Juvenile Justice in the Making

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Oxford University Press, 2004 M03 4 - 264 pages
In his engaging narrative history of the rise and workings of America's first juvenile court, David S. Tanenhaus explores the fundamental and enduring question of how the law should treat the young. Sifting through almost 3,000 previously unexamined Chicago case files from the early twentieth century, Tanenhaus reveals how children's advocates slowly built up a separate system for juveniles, all the while fighting political and legal battles to legitimate this controversial institution. Harkening back to a more hopeful and nuanced age, Juvenile Justice in the Making provides a valuable historical framework for thinking about youth policy.
 

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Contents

Imagining a Childrens Court
3
Building a Model Court
23
Preserving the Family
55
Legitimating Juvenile Justice
82
Medicalizing Delinquency
111
Organizing the Community
138
Conclusion
159
The County Cook Juvenile Court Case Files
167
Bibliographic Essay
215
Index
221
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Page x - I would, there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty ; or that youth would sleep out the rest: for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.

About the author (2004)

Co-editor of A Century of Juvenile Justice and Editor of the Law and History Review, David S. Tanenhaus is Associate Professor of History and the James E. Rogers Professor of History and Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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