Abstract
Carla J. Barrett, assistant professor at John Jay College in New York City, has produced her first book Courting Kids. The book gives readers a glimpse into what approximately 200,000 adjudicated youths under the age of 18 experience during the course of a year. Barrett details juvenile justice changes in New York City; in particular, the way one judge’s passion for youths has changed the landscape of the court system. Barrett discusses the various legal changes that have come about in the state of New York since the early 1970s, most notably the swing from the rehabilitative stance to the more retributive attitude that occurred during the 1990s. In each chapter, Barrett delivers a historical look at the foundation of and the practical, onsite application of these laws.
The most salient point that Barrett makes in this book concerns a contradiction in the legal standing regarding youth versus adult status. In New York, a youth who is adjudicated for committing two crimes while at the same age can easily have cases processed in both family court and adult court concurrently. Addressing this problem, the Youth Part in New York City is a specialized, individual-focused court system created for youths who straddle that boundary between juvenile and adult. Barrett describes the processes and cases of the Manhattan Youth Part and examines how this type of court system benefits those youths at once labeled legally as both a child and an adult. In the Manhattan Youth Part, cases may be presented based on the involvement or presence of any youth; many nonyouths are processed in this court as well. Many youth-appropriate, beneficial options to incarceration or detention are available through the Manhattan Youth Part, including specialized programming, customized curfews, being sentenced as a youthful offender, and record sealing.
Barrett observed that not only were these youths more likely to be successful, but that subtle differences emerged in the youths as they progressed through the Manhattan Youth Part. Barrett noted how the atmosphere in the Youth Part differed from that of a regular courtroom. Here, the judge interacted with the youths in a parental manner, often reprimanding the youth when they did not meet the requirements of their programs, and reinforcing instructions or views of the parent. Barrett described the interactions between the judge and the youths as informal and conversational, encouraging the youths to sense that the judge was someone invested in them whom they could trust.
Barrett’s research covered daily activities in court as she also sought evidence that Youth Part courts were effective in bridging the gap between the Family Court and the criminal (adult) court. She found that of the five Youth Parts in the City of New York, youths processed in the Manhattan Youth Part were less likely than those in other youth parts to be rearrested. Relatedly, Manhattan Youth Part used youthful offender status less frequently than the other Youth Part Courts.
Barrett’s ethnographical approach neatly reveals larger legal and social concepts as well as contradictions that existing laws create, but also empowers readers to see the effects of policies and programming on the individual. This book would function well as a supplement to any juvenile justice course. The content is engaging and very readable. The text is relatively short and small. As this book gives real-life testimonies from juveniles processed through the Youth Part Court, students may especially enjoy this addition to their other, more theoretical texts for class.