Juvenile Delinquency, Juvenile Law, Domestic Relations Law - Children

How the Law Thinks About Children

Name: How the Law Thinks About Children
Author: Michael King
ISBN: 9781857422269

by Michael King

Write a review

Overview

This is one of the most thought-provoking books to appear in recent years on children and the law. How the Law Thinks About Children considers the ways in which legal systems deal with issues of child abuse, child custody and juvenile delinquency by constructing their own 'realities'. This account draws on the recent theoretical ideas of autopoiesis and radical constructivism derived from the writings of Foucault, Habermas, Luhmann and above all, Gunther Teubner. It offers many original insights into the relationship between law and child welfare science and provides a critical analysis of decision making about child welfare in several different countries. It concludes by pointing the way to a new era of 'child responsiveness' for courts dealing with issues involving children. The first edition of this book has been widely recognized as a milestone in sociological analysis of the legal system's role in regulating children and families. This completely revised second edition clarifies and develops several of the theoretical issues that so intrigued readers of the earlier version. It also takes account of recent developments in law and social policy concerning children's welfare.