Courting Kids: Inside an Experimental Youth Court (Alternative Criminology, 25) - Hardcover

Carla J. Barrett is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. 

“This insightful ethnography tells a compelling story of injustice, humanity, and suffering—of a judge’s struggle to do right despite challenging circumstances—and in the process offers a powerful critique against transfer to criminal court.”-Aaron Kupchik,author of Homeroom Security

“Readers will gain a sense of the history and initial purpose of the juvenile court, an understanding of the impact of accountability-based public policies, the tools used to facilitate accountability, such as legislative and judicial waivers, and the research that, to date, has found that these policies have not necessarily reduced recidivism or deterred criminal conduct. In the end, Courting Kids is not just about youth and a specialized court in New York; it is about all youth, everywhere.” -Political Science Quarterly

"Explores the experiment in child-saving undertaken by the Manhattan Youth Part of the New York criminal court system and considers the insights it offers about the persecution of youth offenders." -Journal of Economic Literature

"An articulate and intelligent ethnographic study."-Sarah Ciftci,Current Issues in Criminal Justice

“An impressive and important book. Meticulously researched and well written the book offers an insightful account of the way one court adapted to the legal effort to try juvenile offenders as adults.” -Austin Sarat,author of Life without Parole