The Evolution of the Juvenile Court: Race, Politics, and the Criminalizing of Juvenile Justice

From one of America’s leading experts, an analysis of the history of the nation’s juvenile justice system and a look at the future.

The juvenile court lies at the intersection of youth policy and crime policy, and reflects our changing ideas about children and crime control throughout history. In The Evolution of the Juvenile Court, noted law professor and criminologist Barry C. Feldprovides a sweeping overview of the American juvenile justice system’s development and change over the past century.

Feld traces the juvenile court’s evolution though its four periods―the Progressive Era, the Due Process Revolution in the 1960s, the Get Tough Era of the 1980s and 1990s, and today’s Kids Are Different era. He examines the relationship between social structural factors—changes in the economy, cities, families, race and ethnicity, and politics—and their impact on juvenile justice policies and practices. A comprehensive analysis of juvenile justice history, The Evolution of the Juvenile Court draws on lessons from our past to envision a new, developmentally appropriate justice system for children.

Winner, 2020 ACJS Outstanding Book Award, given by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences