Juvenile Law and Its Processes

This book will not only introduce students to the substantive world of juvenile delinquency, child abuse, and status offenses, but will also provide students historical and contemporary data which will enable them to understand underlying juvenile law theories and the effects of changing systems. The Third Edition of Juvenile Law and Its Process has several goals:

First, students will be introduced to the structure and procedures of juvenile proceedings.

Second, facts and contemporary data will enable students to knowledgeably join in society's continuing debate regarding the purpose and direction of children's legal universe.

Third, students will learn the substantive law, theories, and strategies necessary to provide children with zealous and competent representation.

And finally, students will have an opportunity to apply their learning to a series of sophisticated juvenile law problems and simulations that will also raise a host of ethical conundrums.

New areas of emphasis include:

• An extensive chapter on the third party rights of grandparents, de facto parents, relatives, and siblings;
• Contemporary disposition alternatives such as Youth Court and Drug Court; and
• Extensive empirical data regarding arrests, delinquency dispositions, child abuse and neglect filings, custody placements, and termination of parental rights.

Another exciting addition is the inclusion of two complete juvenile law case files. The first concerns a child dependency case in which the state could choose to file as an adult criminal case, a delinquency case, a status offender case, or as a dependency case. The second case file involves a juvenile delinquency proceeding and provides the petition, arrest reports, minute orders, and probation officer's report. The Teacher's Manual (available only to professors) includes extensive discussions of these case files with directions on how to use them in class discussions regarding relevant substantive law, and also provides suggestions on how to perform in- or out-of-class simulations using these case files.

Finally, as a convenience to both students and professors, the authors have included two practice essay examinations with corresponding answers contained in the Teacher's Manual.