Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

2003

Abstract

This concise book explores the origins and early history of the Cook County Juvenile Court, the world’s first such court. The court, which opened on July 3, 1899, in Chicago, reflected its founders’ profound faith both in science to solve social problems and the power of the state to provide for the best interests of its children. Yet, as Getis argues, the juvenile court did not live up to its initial promise, and “instead of a place of experimentation and reform—which it could have been—or a place of individualized justice guided by science—perhaps an unattainable goal—the court became an institution without idealism.” The Juvenile Court and the Progressives seeks to discover not only what went wrong, but also what is fundamentally wrong with the progressive conception of a juvenile court.

Publication Citation

21 Law & Hist. Rev. 240 (2003) (reviewing Victoria Getis, The Juvenile Court and the Progressives (2000)).

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