Adolescence, Discrimination, and the Law

Explores the shifts and the research used to support civil rights claims of discrimination, particularly relating to minority youths’ rights to equal treatment In the wake of the civil rights movement, the legal system dramatically changed its response to discrimination based on race, gender, and other characteristics. It is now showing signs of yet another dramatic shift, as it moves from considering difference to focusing on neutrality. Rather than seeking to counter subjugation through special protections for groups that have been historically (and currently) disadvantaged, the Court now adopts a “colorblind” approach. Equality now means treating everyone the same way. This book explores these shifts and the research used to support civil rights claims, particularly relating to minority youths’ rights to equal treatment. It integrates developmental theory with work on legal equality and discrimination, showing both how the legal system can benefit from new research on development and how the legal system itself can work to address invidious discrimination given its significant influence on adolescents—especially those who are racial minorities—at a key stage in their developmental life. Adolescents, Discrimination, and the Law articulates the need to address discrimination by recognizing and enlisting the law’s inculcative powers in multiple sites subject to legal regulation, ranging from families, schools, health and justice systems to religious and community groups. The legal system may champion ideals of neutrality in the goals it sets itself for treating individuals, but it cannot remain neutral in the values it supports and imparts. This volume shows that despite the shift to a focus on neutrality, the Court can and should effectively foster values supporting equality, especially among youth.

As a whole, this work has overlaying and connecting themes serving as a general introduction into the legal arguments of the topics at hand, namely adolescents and the legal systems interaction with them. However, the individual chapters go into minute detail in regards to the topics and cases related to them. This combination helps to properly inform readers without leaving them get lost in the gritty aspects of the U.S. legal system… After reading the book in its entirety, the need for governmental reform regarding the issues presented becomes painfully apparent. Hopefully the public will continue to educate themselves on issues like these and a more concrete plan as to what specifically needs improvement and in how to go about improving it will form., In clear and cogent terms, this book pulls together the literature from disparate areas of psychological research and jurisprudence. Its well-reasoned arguments make a distinctive contribution to the field, and should serve as guidance to scholars and policy-makers.

Roger J.R. Levesque is Professor of Criminal Justice, Indiana University. His most recent books include Dangerous Adolescents, Model Adolescents: Shaping the Role and Promise of Education and Adolescents, Sex, and the Law: Preparing Adolescents for Responsible Citizenship.