An American Travesty: Legal Responses to Adolescent Sexual Offending (Adolescent Development and Legal Policy) [Hardcover]

Franklin E. Zimring (Author), Francis A. Allen (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0226983579 | ISBN-13: 978-0226983578 | Edition: 1

An American Travesty is the first scholarly book in half a century to analyze the justice system’s response to sexual misconduct by children and adolescents in the United States. Writing with a refreshing dose of common sense, Franklin E. Zimring discusses our society's failure to consider the developmental status of adolescent sex offenders. Too often, he argues, the American legal system ignores age and developmental status when adjudicating young sexual offenders, in many cases responding as they would to an adult.

 

“An opinionated, articulate, and forceful critique of current politics and practices. . . . I would recommend this book for anyone interested in rethinking the fundamental questions of how our courts and systems should respond to these cases.”—Law and Politics Book Review

 

“One of the most important new books in the field of juvenile justice. . . . Zimring offers a thoughtful, research-based analysis of what went wrong with legal policy development.”—Barry Krisberg, President, National Council on Crime and Delinquency

 

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An opinionated, articulate, and forceful critique of current politics and practices.... I would recommend this book for anyone interested in rethinking the fundamental questions of how our courts and systems should respond to these cases." - Law and Politics Book Review "One of the most important new books in the field of juvenile justice.... Zimring offers a thoughtful, research-based analysis of what went wrong with legal policy development." - Barry Krisberg, president, National Council on Crime and Delinquency "Franklin Zimring is one of the preeminent legal scholars in the United States today, and this exceptional, meticulous book shows why such status is so richly deserved." - Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare"

From the Inside Flap

An American Travesty is the first scholarly book in half a century to analyze the justice system's response to sexual misconduct by children and adolescents in the United States. Writing with a refreshing dose of common sense, Franklin E. Zimring discusses the "American travesty" noted in title—our society's failure to consider the developmental status of adolescent sex offenders. Too often, he argues, the American legal system ignores age and developmental status when adjudicating young sexual offenders, in many cases responding as they would to an adult.

This book is a summary of what we know about adolescent sex offenders, and a much-needed indictment of the legal system's ability to make appropriate decisions concerning young sexual offenders, and a call for specific reforms. Zimring shows that current policy toward young sex offenders is rarely based on facts and is often the result of and false judgements. Assumptions about juvenile sex offenders in current legislation and debate are often based only on the motives and inclinations of adult offenders. But seventy-five years' worth of empirical data show that such assumptions are wrong. After surveying the facts and outlining the additional information needed for rational policy, this book proposes a series of reforms in juvenile and criminal courts as well as sex offender registration laws. As such, An American Travesty's compelling argument will inform policymakers, lawyers, criminologists, psychologist, psychiatrists, social workers, and others trying to address the problem of the young sexual offender.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (June 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226983579
• ISBN-13: 978-0226983578
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, shabby performance from Chicago, May 8, 2008

By 

R. Bass "robtbass" (Galveston, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An American Travesty: Legal Responses to Adolescent Sexual Offending (Adolescent Development and Legal Policy) (Hardcover)

I am not one of the "policymakers, lawyers, criminologists, psychologist[s], psychiatrists, [or] social workers" to whom this book is addressed, but an ordinary citizen who is concerned about the mean-spiritedness and vindictiveness currently rampant in America. From this perspective, Professor Zimring's book is absolutely eye opening. I have no doubt that it is the most important recent work in its field.

Having said that much, I must add that this is an expensive, cloth-bound-only scholarly work that seems to have benefited from no editing whatsoever. Most, but not all, adjective phrases are unhyphenated (a dead giveaway); questionable and clearly incorrect usage is left intact; and, in at least a dozen instances, verbs do not agree with their subjects in number. This shabby performance by the University of Chicago Press reflects the current state of academic publishing in the United States.