NCJ Number
86728
Journal
Child and Youth Services Volume: 5 Issue: 1/2 Dated: (Spring/Summer 1982) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
G B Melton
Date Published
1982
Length
148 pages
Annotation
This volume of articles presents both recent legal trends in the recognition of minors' rights and the conflicts which have resulted from such recognition.
Abstract
The last 15 years have produced dramatic changes in the legal status of minors. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled in In re Gault that 14th amendment and Bill of Rights protections extend to minors. Subsequent decisions, such as Bellotti v. Danforth, held that mature minors have a right to privacy in decisions about abortion. These trends have not been without conflict. Most notably in the case of minors, their questionable competence to make independent judgments and the unclear relationship between child and family autonomy have resulted in often conflicting and ambiguous policies concerning children's rights. The articles in this volume address such issues. One article describes the fall of the rehabilitative ideal in the juvenile justice system, with the related problems of increasing concern for juveniles' procedural rights and skepticism concerning the ability of professionals to treat juvenile delinquents successfully. The implications of reform efforts and impact on the delivery of clinical services are discussed. Another selection attacks family privacy as a dominant value and argues for preventive supports for families and increased community involvement within and by families. Melton and Lind examine the perceived justice of various procedures to resolve child custody disputes and conclude that the psychological harms of adversary proceedings on children have yet to be established. Remaining articles are concerned with laws regulating educational and treatment services. Psychological research on children's competence to consent to treatment, legal issues in the use of intelligence tests, and the history of the concept of least restrictive environment and its utility in education are described. A table of cases, an author index, a subject index, and approximately 150 references are provided.