NCJ Number
165688
Journal
Juvenile Justice Update Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (February-March 1997) Pages: 3,4,8-11
Date Published
1997
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Three recent books focus on the problems in the juvenile justice system and potential reforms.
Abstract
The books are "All God's Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence," by Fox Butterfield; "Body Count: Moral Poverty and How To Win America's War Against Crime and Drugs," by William Bennett, John DiIulio, Jr., and John Walters; and "No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court," by Edward Humes. All three books provide a large amount of anecdotal and documentary information about the problems inherent in the juvenile justice system and its courts. However, each book differs in its perspective. The volumes focus on the transfer of juveniles to criminal court, dysfunctional families as the cause of juvenile delinquency, the impacts of imprisonment, criminogenic communities, the role of moral poverty, and the origin and current operation of the juvenile court. All three volumes suggest that young people must be given the time and opportunity and tools to consider other, more constructive paths in life than gangs and crime and violence and that the juvenile justice system is unable to act honestly, compassionately, consistently, and quickly. The analyses also suggest that United States Supreme Court's 1967 decision in In Re Gault did not cause the current problems and that society as a whole, including parents, communities, institutions, and legislators, is at fault.