Juvenile justice and public policy : toward a national agenda

Abstract

With juvenile violence on the rise, the juvenile justice system is in turmoil. More young people are being confined in training schools, detention centers, and private youth correction facilities than at any other time in history. At least half of all voting age adults want juveniles who commit felonies tried in the adult criminal courts, and there are calls to abolish the juvenile court altogether. Moreover, this is happening at a time when policymakers in virtually every state are being confronted with increasing demands for public services and dwindling fiscal resources. Already, billions in federal, state, and local dollars are spent on this problem every year. Yet response to this increasing problem is generally met only in reaction to one or two particularly heinous acts rather than on an ongoing basis. Juvenile Justice and Public Policy addresses many of the most critical juvenile policy issues of the 1990s. It examines in detail the future of the juvenile court, juvenile involvement in gangs, special issues such as gender, race, and ethnicity, and cost-effective youth correction policies and interventions. Further, the book presents the findings from a 1991 public opinion survey on attitudes toward juvenile crime - the first comprehensive poll of its kind - and proposes a new national juvenile justice agenda. Chapters were authored by some of the most knowledgeable and respected juvenile justice practitioners and academics in the country. Juvenile Justice and Public Policy gives much-needed guidance to elected public officials and to professionals on the firing line, and will also be of interest to students of juvenile justice - those who are examining the system and are interested in its future.

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