Cases and Materials on Juvenile Justice Administration

This casebook explores the legal, administrative, and policy issues related to regulating children rather than adults, including the implications of a justice system that emphasizes treatment rather than punishment. It also examines adolescents' competence to exercise procedural rights and their culpability, and discusses controversial issues such as gender and racial disparities in juvenile justice administration. It includes empirical evaluations and research on adolescent competence and presents criminological studies of controversial issues.

Format: Hardback
Length: 1008 pages
Publication date: 30 July 2022
Publisher: West Academic Publishing

This casebook delves into a comprehensive exploration of three central themes: legal, administrative, and policy considerations pertaining to the regulation of children rather than adults. It examines the procedural and substantive implications of a justice system that prioritizes treatment over punishment, as well as the tensions between discretion and rules that arise when states treat children differently from adults. The book also takes a deep dive into the competence of adolescents to exercise their procedural rights and the evolving conceptions of their culpability, which have significant implications for their dispositions in juvenile courts and sentences as adults in criminal courts.

To support its analysis, the casebook incorporates a wealth of empirical evaluations, developmental psychological and neuroscience research on adolescent competence, and criminological studies of controversial issues such as gender and racial disparities in juvenile justice administration. Furthermore, it examines pretrial detention and alternative sentencing options available to juvenile courts, exploring how and when states attempt to prosecute youths in criminal court.

In this edition, the book also includes the Supreme Court's recent Eighth Amendment decisions, which recognize that children are distinct and limit judges' sentencing authority. Additionally, it delves into Fifth Amendment decisions that reappraise the impact of youthfulness during interrogation, and Fourth Amendment decisions affecting school officials' authority to search.

By examining these critical themes, this casebook provides a comprehensive and insightful examination of the complex issues surrounding the regulation of children in the legal system. It is an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and anyone interested in understanding the challenges and opportunities associated with this field.

Dimension: 254 x 191 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781647082536
Edition number: 6 Revised edition