Discretionary Justice: Looking Inside a Juvenile Drug Court

by Leslie Paik

Overview

 Juvenile drug courts are on the rise in the United States, as a result of a favorable political climate and justice officials' endorsement of the therapeutic jurisprudence movement--the concept of combining therapeutic care with correctional discipline. Discretionary Justice overviews the system, taking readers behind the scenes of the juvenile drug court. Based on fifteen months of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews at a California court, Leslie Paik explores the staff's decision-making practices in assessing the youths' cases, concentrating on the way accountability and noncompliance are assessed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813550978
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2011
Series:	Critical Issues in Crime and Society
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Leslie Paik is an assistant professor of sociology at the City College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Inside the Black Box of Drug Court Justice
2. Setting and Methods
3. What Court Day Is He? Intercourt Variations
4. Building Accountability through Assessments of Noncompliance
5. Social Construction of Drug Test Results
6. It's Not Just His Probation, It's Mine: Parental Involvement in the Drug Court
7. Youth Trajectories in the Court
8. The (In)justice of Discretion: Drug Courts as Therapeutic Punishment and Therapeutic Justice
Appendix A: Methods
Appendix B: Concepts and Terms
Appendix C: Additional Resources
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Paik's extraordinary data illuminates the tension between therapy and punishment in juvenile drug courts. A terrific read!"

author of Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear - Aaron Kupchik

"This important, timely analysis reveals how meanings are constructed and bureaucratic decisions are created within a youth drug court."

Associate Professor, Justice & Social Inquiry, Arizona State University - Madelaine Adelman

"This important, timely analysis reveals how meanings are constructed and bureaucratic decisions are created within a youth drug court."

From the Publisher