Juvenile Justice: The Essentials

A brief yet thorough introduction with an emphasis on real-world issues

Briefer and less expensive than traditional core textbooks, Juvenile Justice: The Essentials provides a current, thought-provoking introduction to juvenile justice, juvenile delinquency, the challenges of reducing juvenile crime, and of providing equal and fair justice for all juvenile offenders. Offering a comprehensive yet concise overview of the field’s most important concepts and issues, authors Richard Lawrence and Mario Hesse include cutting-edge research; practical examples of juvenile justice in action; and up-to-date coverage of laws, policies, and programs in juvenile justice. Engaging pedagogical features illustrate true-to-life cases, policies, and practices that capture student interest by vividly responding to the “So what?” question of how delinquency theories apply in the real world.

Key Features

• A unique chapter on restorative justice covers restorative practices with juvenile offenders.
• “Case in Point” boxes with accompanying questions include scenarios or vignettes of juvenile justice cases to encourage students to think about and discuss major issues; photos illustrate key points in the chapters.
• “Policy and Practice” boxes explore the real-life implications of juvenile justice policy and address student interest in the "What works?" questions about juvenile justice.
• Chapter Highlights begin each chapter, providing a preview of forthcoming topics.
• Bulleted Summaries, Key Terms, and Discussion Questions at the end of each chapter help students master key concepts and engage in critical thought and discussion of important findings, justice policies and practices.

The proposed core textbook will present an overview of the major subject areas in juvenile justice, with some of the latest research available from other books, journal articles, and government documents. The book will include special features that engage the reader in thinking critically about the subjects, with practical examples of justice in action, laws, policies, and programs in juvenile justice. This core textbook will be shorter than a comprehensive text, less expensive, and will allow the Instructor to use it either as the primary textbook in a course, or as one of two or more supplementary textbooks.

Richard Lawrence is Professor of Criminal Justice at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. He earned a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, M.A. in Psychology at St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX and a B.A. in Psychology at Bethel University, St. Paul, MN. He has published two books on school crime and juvenile justice and is the author of more than forty articles and chapters published in academic journals and books, including Juvenile Justice: A Text/Reader, just published by SAGE.