Juvenile Justice in Global Perspective

• Date: 16 August 2019
• Published date: 16 August 2019

Juvenile Justice in Global

Perspective

by FRANKLIN E. ZIMRING, MÁXIMO LANGER and

DAVID S. TANENHAUS (eds)

(2015) New York University Press , 434 pp, ISBN: 9781479826537

Introduction

Much has been written about the development of juvenile justice

systems and their key features, such as age lim its, institutions,

sentences and other measures. Both cri minologists as well as legal

scholars have produced studies in which different juvenile just ice

systems or crimin al justice systems affecti ng children (allegedly) in

conict with the law, have been described, analysed and compared.

In addition, there are various comparative studies i n which juvenile

justice models and trends in practice were identi ed. Many of these

studies have contributed to our understanding of juveni le justice

systems, but one cannot disregard the fact th at these English-language

studies were limited to a small g roup of mostly Western, developed

countries. Some exceptions conrm th is rule. As a consequence, we

actually did not have an accurate understa nding of juvenile justice

systems elsewhere in the world and the extent to which and why they

differ from crim inal justice systems. Nor did we have insight into what

drives the establishment and development of juvenile justice systems

in different part s of the world and to what extent that is comparable

to what is known about the development of juvenile justice systems

in Western societies. The scholarly volume Juvenile Justice in Global

Perspective, edited by the disti nguished scholars Zimri ng, Langer and

Tanenhaus (2015), addresses this decit in academic scholarship and it

is for this reason, if for no other, that this book is wort hwhile reading.

Objectives of the book

This book aims to  ll the knowledge gap regarding juvenile justice

systems across the globe. The editors right fully acknowledge that

such a gap exists and indeed this b ook provides ‘an unprecedented

REVIEW

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(2016) 29 SACJ 333

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