When a young person breaks the law or acts in ways that violate norms of behavior, how the community responds varies tremendously from place to place. There is no “national” juvenile justice system—juvenile law is a patchwork of state and local statutes, and every jurisdiction has its own local practices, customs, and norms. Nevertheless, while local differences are important, there is also a growing national recognition about how to deal with young people who have committed an offense; advances in fields ranging from neurobiology to cultural competence are helping to forge what amounts to a national consensus on best practices. This book brings together the encouraging progress Ted Rubin has witnessed in his visits to juvenile courts around the country, as reported in regular columns for the quarterly Juvenile Justice Update over the last decade. This is the central focus of Juvenile Justice Now: Reinvention and Promise. It tells the story of the then-new invention, a juvenile court, which was first unveiled in 1899 in Chicago, and was to spread out into all but two states by 1925. It recounts both progressive and regressive developments and practices in subsequent decades. The juvenile courts are again moving forward, through the efforts of people and programs like the ones profiled in this book, reinventing the juvenile justice system and realizing the promise it embodies.

For juvenile court officers, judges, academic researchers, and youth advocates Juvenile Justice Now digs into more than 40 juvenile justice programs from around the country, to provide a treasury of inspiration, innovation and effective practice: 

• The juvenile court as an indpendent system: how it developed and evolved, including significant milestones and Constitutional issues
• Extending jurisdiction while narrowing the pipeline from school to court to prison
• Reforms and reformers: innovative juvenile court practices and the foundations and organizations driving vital change
• From apprehension to disposition: diversion programs that keep kids out of trouble
• What cognitive science is teaching us about youth behavior
• How to solidify progress and built support for juvenile justice programs in the community

H. Ted Rubin was Judge of the Denver Juvenile Court from 1965-1971. From 1971 until 1992, he was Director for Juvenile/Criminal Justice and then Senior Staff Attorney for the Institute for Court Management (ICM) of the National Center for State Courts, Denver. He was a principal in the national Restitution Education, Specialized Training, and Technical Assistance Project (RESTTA) (1984-1992) and was honored in 1990 with the National Center for State Courts’ Award of Excellence.

Related Publications:
Juvenile Justice: Programs, Policies & Practices
Juvenile Justice Update
Effective Program Practices for At-Risk Youth