In his engaging narrative history of the rise and workings of America's first juvenile court, David S. Tanenhaus explores the fundamental and enduring question of how the law should treat the young. Sifting through almost 3,000 previously unexamined Chicago case files from the early twentieth century, Tanenhaus reveals how children's advocates slowly built up a separate system for juveniles, all the while fighting political and legal battles to legitimate this controversial institution. Harkening back to a more hopeful and nuanced age, Juvenile Justice in the Making provides a valuable historical framework for thinking about youth policy.
Co-editor of A Century of Juvenile Justice and Editor of the Law and History Review, David S. Tanenhaus is Associate Professor of History and the James E. Rogers Professor of History and Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Foreword ; Introduction ; 1. Imagining a Children's Court ; 2. Building a Model Court ; 3. Preserving the Family ; 4. Legitimating Juvenile Justice ; 5. Medicalizing Delinquency ; 6. Organizing the Community ; Conclusion ; Appendix: The Cook County Juvenile Court Case Files ; Notes ; Bibliographic Essay ; Index
"...presents new information about the oldest juvenile court in the United States. The book forces its readers to pause and think how daring some of the CCJC's ideas and practices were. This book is a welcome addition to the existing literature and should be read by scholars, students, juvenile court professionals, and the general public."--American Historical Review