American Juvenile Justice is a definitive volume for courses on the criminology and policy analysis of adolescence. The focus is on the principles and policy of a separate and distinct system of juvenile justice. The book opens with an introduction of the creation of adolescence, presenting a justification for the category of the juvenile or a period of partial responsibility before full adulthood. Subsequent sections include empirical investigations of the nature of youth criminality and legal policy toward youth crime. At the heart of the book is an argument for a penal policy that recognizes diminished responsibility and a youth policy that emphasizes the benefits of letting the maturing process continue with minimal interruption. In this updated and expanded second edition, Zimring has included four new chapters with examinations on important topics including, US Supreme Court decisions of life sentences for minors, the elected use of juvenile courts over criminal court, punitive sex offender registration for juveniles, and appropriate tactics for juvenile justice reform.

IntroductionPart I Adolescence: Social Facts and Legal Theoryone Childhood and Public Law before the Revolutiontwo Modern Adolescence as a Learner's Permitthree The Problem of Individual VariationConclusion to Part IPart II - A Rationale for American Juvenile Justicefour The Common Thread: Diversion in Juvenile Justicefive Penal Proportionality for the Young Offender: Notes on Immaturity, Capacity, and Diminished Responsibilitysix The Central Mission of Separate Juvenile CourtsPart III - The Adolescent Offenderseven Kids, Groups and Crimeeight Two Patterns of Age Progressionnine American Youth Violence-A Cautionary TalePart IV - Policy Problems in Modern Juvenile Justiceten Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification-How Should Juvenile Courts Respond?eleven Juvenile or Criminal Court? A Punitive Theory of Waivertwelve Reducing the Harms of Minority Overrepresentation in American Juvenile Justicethirteen Choosing a Coherent Policy toward Juveniles and Gunsfourteen The Hardest of the Hard Cases: The Young Homicide Offenderfifteen Strategy and Tactics in Juvenile Justice ReformNotes and ReferencesIndex