Balancing Juvenile Justice

Balancing Juvenile Justice

Product Description The juvenile justice system in the United States has become a detrimental rather than a remedial experience, one that often reinforces youths defiance of authority. Trying juveniles as adults, overcrowding juvenile detention facilities, and other factors have led to the deterioration of a system whose original intent was to protect immature youngsters who might get arrested for truancy or joyriding. The present system is ill equipped to cope with todays children who may be arrested for violent crimes such as rape and murder. This has led to an intense pessimism. Balancing Juvenile Justice, now in an expanded, revised edition, is a comprehensive discussion of the primary considerations policymakers should use in striking a balance between holding youths responsible for past behavior, and providing services and opportunities so that their future behavior will be guided by constructive, rather than destructive, forces.The topics covered include: trends in philosophy and politics; a review of state and local reforms in juvenile justice; the changing role of the juvenile court; development of a balanced continuum of correctional programs; and strategies for reform. The authors emphasize that while juvenile offenders should pay for their crimes, it is equally urgent to realize that adult neglect, abuse, rescinding needed resources, and stigmatizing of youth will only ensure that crime and criminal justice become permanent distinguishing features of the United States.This new edition of Balancing Juvenile Justice will be compelling reading for sociologists, criminologists, juvenile justice practitioners, and policymakers. Review Guarino-Ghezzi and Loughran have written a book that needs to be read not only by students in sociology and criminal justice but also by law students and legislators. This work sets forth some very real policy options for dealing with the vexing issue of juvenile law violators. -J. C. Watkins Jr.,Choice This book contains a comprehensive discussion of the primary policy considerations that should be used in striking a balance between holding youths responsible for their past actions and providing for their welfare. -Perspectives on Political Science In a world in which the continued existence of a separate juvenile justice system can no longer be taken for granted, the clear-eyed realism of this book is a welcome contribution to the too often shrill debate on the future of juvenile justice. -Criminology About the Author Susan Guarino-Ghezzi is associate professor of sociology and criminology at Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts, and has also taught at Northeastern University. She is the coauthor of Make Peace with Police, a guide for police and juvenile correctional partnerships.Edward J. Loughran was commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services from 1979 to 1993 and director of the National Juvenile Justice Project, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial until 1996. He is currently president of Loughran and Associates, a juvenile justice consulting firm, and executive director of the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators.