NCJ Number
89459
Date Published
1983
Length
1015 pages
Annotation
This volume examines the legal rights and duties of children in the context of such jurisprudential concerns as the proper balance of judicial discretion and legislative standards, the use of State intervention to regulate intrafamily relations, and the goals of and justification for State sanctions that result in involuntary loss of liberty.
Abstract
Private law responses to the issue of protection or autonomy for minors are considered in the opening chapter. Attention is given to limitations on contracting, individual responsibility and the capacity to sue, State control of child employment, gratuitous transfers, statutes of limitation, and emancipation. Chapters are also devoted to the constitutional guidelines for children's rights and the reshaping of the juvenile justice system after the Gault case, which specified that the juvenile courts must meet certain due process requirements. Police investigations as they pertain to minors are discussed under the topics of taking custody, school searches and seizures, and interrogation. The chapter on intake and diversion examines who gets diverted, rights at intake, and the rationale for diversion. Other chapters focus on pretrial detention, transfer between courts, adjudicatory hearing, dispositions, appeals, noncriminal misbehavior, child custody, and State intervention to ensure adequate parenting. Chapter notes, tables of cases and authors, and a subject index are provided.