NCJ Number
100230
Date Published
1984
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper traces laws and policies bearing on children's rights, particularly in the juvenile justice system, over the past 200 years, with attention to significant contemporary writings on minors' rights.
Abstract
An historical overview of the Western family's evolution notes the emergency of the modern nuclear family marked by instability. General patterns of parent-child relations are also traced, along with the changing roles of extra-familial social and legal institutions in managing and serving children. A review of changes in juvenile justice policy encompasses the latter part of the 19th century to the present, and themes of child advocacy over the period are presented. Among the contemporary publications summarized are the American Bar Association's Juvenile Justice Standards, particularly bearing upon the rights of minors and status offenders, and two volumes by Goldstein, Freud, and Solnit (1979) which deal principally with child placement, adoption, custody, foster care, and the role of the state in addressing child abuse, abandonment, neglect and the child's right to medical care. 14 references.