Bad Kids: Race and the Transformation of the Juvenile Court

by Barry C. Feld

Overview

Written by a leading scholar of juvenile justice, this book examines the social and legal changes that have transformed the juvenile court in the last three decades from a nominally rehabilitative welfare agency into a scaled-down criminal court for young offenders. It explores the complex relationship between race and youth crime to explain both the Supreme Court decisions to provide delinquents with procedural justice and the more recent political impetus to "get tough" on young offenders. This provocative book will be necessary reading for criminal and juvenile justice scholars, sociologists, legislators, and juvenile justice personnel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195097870
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/18/1999
Series:	Studies in Crime and Public Policy
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	1580L (what's this?)

About the Author

Barry Feld is Centennial Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. He is the author of five books and more than three dozen law review and criminology articles on juvenile justice administration with special emphases on serious offenders, procedural justice, and youth sentencing policy.

Table of Contents

	Figures and Tables	xv
	Introduction	3
1	The Social Construction of Childhood and Adolescence	17
2	The Juvenile Court and the "Rehabilitative Ideal"	46
3	The Constitutional Domestication of the Juvenile Court	79
4	Procedural Justice in Juvenile Courts: Law on the Books and Law in Action	109
5	Social Control and Noncriminal Status Offenders: Triage and Privatization	166
6	Delinquent or Criminal? Juvenile Court's Shrinking Jurisdiction over Serious Young Offenders	189
7	Punishment, Treatment, and the Juvenile Court: Sentencing Delinquents	245
8	Abolish the Juvenile Court: Sentencing Policy When the Child Is a Criminal and the Criminal Is a Child	287
	Epilogue	331
	References	343
	Index	367

What People are Saying About This

Jeffrey Fagan

Barry Feld challenges critics and supporters of the juvenile court with a uniquely rich analysis of law and social policy that demands attention. Bad Kids moves the debate on the future of the juvenile court beyond the rhetoric of criminalization and the nostalgia of the child savers, toward a vision that embraces concepts from law, adolescent development, and community structure.
— Columbia University

Ira M. Schwartz

This is a timely and provocative book that plows new ground. It will have a major influence on the emerging debate regarding the future of the juvenile justice system in the United States.
— University of Pennsylvania

Kimberly Kempf-Leonard

Barry Feld's stand on reforming juvenile justice will surely be controversial, but his reasoning is clear, and his position is well argued. Even those who disagree with Feld's conclusions will gain valuable insight into the changes in American society and law that have brought our juvenile justice system to its present state.
— University of Missouri at St. Louis

Editorial Reviews

"Bary Feld's stand on reforming juvenile justice will surely be controversial, but his reasoning is clear, and his position is well argued."—Kimberly Kempf-Leonard, University of Missouri - St. Louis

From the Publisher

This is the latest title in Oxford's "Studies in Crime and Public Policy" series, much of which deals with youth crime and its relationship to society. Feld (Minnesota Law Sch.) is a leading scholar in the field of juvenile justice administration. Here he briefly traces the evolution of the juvenile court from its inception in the early 1900s, with an emphasis on the past three decades. Early juvenile courts were seen as rehabilitative welfare agencies, but with the Supreme Court's emphasis in the 1960s on due process, children began to be seen as defendants. As a result of a series of Supreme Court decisions, Feld asserts, juveniles now receive the "worst of both worlds." He explores the complex relationship between race and youth crime in an attempt to understand the court decisions that lead to procedural justice. He also discusses the recent political impetus to treat juveniles as adults in some cases. His points are well made and persuasive. Recommended for libraries with an interest in juveniles and criminal justice.--Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, MA

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