ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the ways in which the philosophies of children and criminal justice might inform one another; the way in which criminal justice marks the social environment in which children grow up; and at children’s involvement in a number of stages of the criminal process. A number of themes are addressed. Firstly, the moral significance of crime and of the appropriate state response. Secondly, whether the state’s response is best implemented through traditional methods such as fining or imprisonment, or rather alternatives such as restorative justice. Thirdly, whether (and if so when) children can be thought to have those capacities necessary for criminal liability. Fourthly, the way in which distinctive features of criminal justice impact the social world in which children grow up. Fifthly, the relation between criminal justice and other issues of social justice.
