ABSTRACT
Opening with a retrospective of In re Gault and Kent v. United States, the book highlights Gault's lineage within the Warren Court's due process revolution. The civil rights movement, and the contemporary era of mass incarceration, black youth have been plagued by narratives casting them as violent, immoral, degenerate, and undeserving of child welfare and social services. The recognition of black childhood as a legally relevant status and a basis for access to developmental opportunities and resources is fundamental to the struggle for equitable youth justice. White juvenile justice reformers and other civic leaders in the North were scarcely more invested in citizen-building for black youth than their counterparts in the South. Elizabeth McDonald was the first black woman to serve as a juvenile court probation officer and as a volunteer in 1901 in Chicago. Implicit and explicit racial biases continue to deprive black youth of the right to be recognized and treated as children in the juvenile justice system.
