Franklin E. Zimring and David S. Tanenhaus (eds.): Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice, New York University Press, New York, 2014, 256 pp, ISBN: 9781479816873

The current state of the American juvenile system is failing both the juveniles and the rights related to their welfare and the welfare of others. Due to this, it is imperative for new policies to be incorporated into the system to achieve progressive reforms in juvenile justice. Franklin E. Zimring and David S. Tanenhaus’ Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice provides the resources and arguments for doing so, as their book seeks to aid the development of more effective directions of future policies and institutions relating to the juvenile court’s delinquency jurisdiction. The book is divided into three parts. The first section profiles the attitudes and legislative changes that were results of the 1990s and how they are a part of current reform discussions. The second section identifies six important priorities for law reform that should be acted upon in the immediate future. Lastly, the third section searches for strategies and appeals for the juvenile system with the intent of achieving progressive reforms. By focusing in-depth analysis on multiple factors from numerous angles, the book reveals that that the current system in place is not accomplishing its goal and must be reformed in a more practical manner. The first two chapters, written by Zimring, focus on America’s youth violence because it was a main factor for the movement of state penal legislation in the 1990s and the priority of citizens’ concerns. His points are important because the violence done by juveniles and tests the extent of the severity with which the legal system can respond. The importance for reform is necessary because extreme youth violence is usually the initial spark of could become potentially criminal careers. Juveniles are in a vulnerable stage of their development and youth violence is a clear indication that the ones who should be protecting their well-being, the state and parents, are failing both individual adolescents and society as a whole. The book includes examples of the influx of school shootings in the 1990s, such as Columbine in the United States, that generated public fear and provoked new laws. Zimring’s argument depicts how public concern and prosecutorial ambition rooting from the 1990s produced legislation that reduced judicial and probation authority and shifted towards more prosecutorial power. The chapter convincingly reveals that this legislation should be reversed, and power should be reinstated with the judicial and probation authority. He demonstrates well that juveniles do not have the capacity to fully understand the consequences of their actions and should not be prosecuted to the same extent of adult criminals. Michael F. Caldwell goes in-depth as he covers the changes in law regulating juvenile sex offenders. He argues that scientific evidence concludes that the current policies should not be the same for juvenile sex offenders. After reviewing his evidence, the laws that require and extension of sex offender registration to adolescent sex offenders seem quite pointless. Because it is dealing with juveniles who are still in their vulnerable development stage, the requirement for registration provides no additional protection to the community or any assistance to law enforcement investigations. The only time juvenile sex offenders should be required to register as a sex offender is when they violate adult sex crimes, otherwise their actions should be addressed in a more sensitive and individualized manner. Aaron Kupchik, in Chapter 4, discusses how the increase in power and presence of police in schools is & Eric Kleiser ekleiser@indiana.edu