In Juvenile Justice in the Making, Dr. David S. Tanenhaus, the James E. Rogers Professor of History and Law at UNLV, offers insight into the creation of America’s first juvenile court, providing a framework for discussion of the complex, often controversial, questions surrounding youth legal policy.

The author describes how children’s advocates worked to establish a separate court system for juveniles in turn-of-the-century Chicago and, in doing so, advanced a basic tenet that guides juvenile justice in America today: Children deserve special treatment by the courts because they are developmentally different from adults.

“The book explores the fundamental question of how the law should treat the young,” says Tanenhaus. “By exploring the early history of juvenile justice, we can begin to think more clearly about what its future should be.”

The book was written for the general reader and designed for classroom adoption in history, law, criminal justice, political science, and social work courses.