NCJ Number
99268
Date Published
1985
Length
245 pages
Annotation
Based upon the author's interviews with and observations of five juvenile court judges, this book presents the judges' personal histories; professional philosophies, goals, values, and styles; and visions of juvenile justice reform.
Abstract
In the opening chapter, the author presents simulated dialog among juvenile court participants in three types of cases typically encountered by juvenile judges: a delinquency case, a status offense case, and a child abuse and neglect case. Following each interchange that might occur between the depicted judge, child, parents, lawyers, probation officials, and social workers, the author enters relevant comments and analyses. The comments deal with juvenile court history, current trends, competing principles, pertinent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and other legal guidelines, workloads, decisional influences, rehabilitation aims and methods, and relevant research findings. These same topics are covered in the portrayals of each of the juvenile judges. The judges preside in juvenile courts in Salt Lake City, Utah; Fulton County, Ga.; Miami, Fla.; Onondaga County, N.Y.; and Kalamazoo, Mich. In the concluding chapter, the author composes a simulated conversation among the five judges based on their philosophies revealed in their interviews. In the simulated interaction, the judges discuss and question each other about juvenile court directions and policy, their own legal and social philosophies, factors that have shaped their values and views, concerns about juveniles, their professional satisfactions and frustrations, and the future of the juvenile court.